


Through Space

by graveltotempo



Series: spread your wings, Guardians of Infinity: a second chance [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Captain Marvel (2019) Spoilers, Do-Over, Dubious Morality, Female Tony, Female Tony Stark, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Infinity Stones, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Kinda, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Maria Stark's Good Parenting, Mental Breakdown, Moral Ambiguity, Moral Dilemmas, Multiverse, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Reincarnation, Sharon Carter & Tony Stark are cousins, Sister Realities, Soul travel, Temporary Character Death, The Tesseract (Marvel), Time Travel, Tony Stark & Hope Van Dyne Friendship, Tony Stark & Stephen Strange Friendship, Worldbuilding, starts right before the snap, well they are together in the first chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29219010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graveltotempo/pseuds/graveltotempo
Summary: The Universe needs the Infinity Stones to survive: Thanos, in his complete ignorance, does not understand this in any of the 14,000,605 futures Doctor Strange sees, does not see this in any of the parallel Universes in which he goes looking for the stones.So Doctor Strange makes the biggest gamble of his life, and puts all his eggs in one basket.And then hands the basket into the hands that, across time and through space, willalwayscharge themselves with the protection of the Earth.+++Anthony Edward Stark fell into the abyss of the broken universe in the spring of 2018 and died.Antoinette Evelyn Stark woke up in her bed in December 1991 with almost 3 decades worth of foresight, in a world she didn't quite remember with one single goal: save the Universe.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: spread your wings, Guardians of Infinity: a second chance [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2145285
Comments: 119
Kudos: 303





	1. when it crumbles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KassandraScarlett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KassandraScarlett/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Years And Smiles And Tears](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18032189) by [KassandraScarlett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KassandraScarlett/pseuds/KassandraScarlett). 
  * Inspired by [My Use and Value is What You Do](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18333815) by [izumi2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/izumi2/pseuds/izumi2). 



> time travel, reincarnation, spells and infinity stones, oh my! will add more tags as it goes
> 
> Slightly inspired by kassandrascarletts female toni fics and also izumi2's fic - go and read them they're amazing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Death of a Universe

**Earth-199999: March 2018**

Tony felt absolutely numb as he watched Thanos disappear from Titan.

He should be standing up. Trying to gather everyone once more, ready for another try, ready to fight again. He was an Avenger, wasn’t he? The Avengers never gave up. They were in charge of saving the Universe. That was their _job_.

But he couldn’t muster the strength. All of his fear, all of his anxiety it was just... gone.

They had lost.

He wanted to laugh, but there was nothing funny about what just happened.

For six years, Tony Stark had known what was coming. For six years he had tried to rally Earth, to ready everyone for what was coming. For six years he had played Cassandra, and no one had heard him. No one had listened to him, no one had believed him.

But he was right. He had been right all along, but he felt no pleasure at the knowledge.

He shouldn’t despair; the Avengers were trying to protect Vision, and Thor was en route to Earth with a ‘Thanos killing weapon’. He shouldn’t give up already, he should trust in the Avengers.

But he couldn’t. Because Thanos controlled five out of six of the aspects of the Universe, he controlled  _ Time  _ itself. He controlled  _ Power. Reality. Space. Soul. _

And Earth had Vision with a Mind stone he had never known exactly what he could do with.

Even if the Avengers managed to destroy the Mind stone - and that was a big if - he had spoken to Strange as they were journeying towards Titan. The mess in Hong Kong with the portal and the destruction that, between a blink and another had undone itself was apparently  _ his  _ doing. 

Which meant that if Strange could do that with an entire city block - literally bring people back to life - a rock of immense power that wouldn’t destroy that easily would be a piece of cake for Thanos to turn time on.

Thanos had destroyed Thor’s people while he was carrying the Power Stone alone, a race of perceived  _ gods _ . He had wiped the floor with them when he had four stones.

Now he controlled five, and unless Vibranium had some anti Infinity Stones properties, Thanos was going against a warrior army with vibranium weapons, several enhanced humans, two supersoldiers, an Asgardian he had beat before, two baseline military trained humans outfitted with Stark Tech, a russian spy, a powerful but untrained witch and an android with an Infinity Stone in his forehead.

_ Who was going to win? _ asked a voice that sounded suspiciously like Harley’s.  _ A literal army fighting for their lives or a purple man with five shiny space rocks? _

“Stark,” came a voice, and Tony slowly blinked back to awareness. His ears were tingling, and grey eyes were staring at him, wide and panicked. “Are you with me? You need to listen to me.”

His hands were on each of Tony’s cheek, and were trembling ever so slightly. Tony fought to find the anger he should feel at this man who gave up humanity for Tony.

But all he felt was exhaustion. “Why would you do that? You promised... you  _ promised _ .”

Strange’s thumb caressed his cheek with a gentleness that Tony felt didn’t belong there. They were basically - ah! - strangers, but seeing the way he held him, you’d think otherwise.

“I lied,” told him the other man, and there was heartbreak in his eyes. Pain. “When I said we won in one future, I lied.” Tony’s breath caught in his throat as Strange offered him a bittersweet smile. “We don’t win. We didn’t have enough time.”

Tony pulled back slightly, and Strange’s hands left his cheeks. He looked at where Peter was standing a little apart from them, not listening in but clearly wanting to. The Guardians seemed frozen in their defeat and the blue android/alien who had informed Quill of the Gamora chick’s death was standing a little apart from them, staring at nothing.

He looked back at Strange. “We’re doomed,” he said, and still he felt... nothing. 

If he pushed more he could sense some sort of grief in himself but other than that? He felt nothing.

“ _ We _ didn’t have enough  _ time _ ,” emphasised Strange. “ _This_ Universe is doomed. Thanos will snap his fingers. And then he will destroy the Infinity Stones so that no one would be able to undo what he has done.”

Tony looked at him sharply. “If the stones that represent the aspects that govern our universe are gone...”

“Then our universe will cease to exist,” finished Strange. “But not the Multiverse.” He made a gesture with his hands, and a mandala much more complex than the ones he had used against Thanos flared between his fingers. Even though he knew nothing of magic or the mystic arts, Tony recognised it as the one Strange had been working on after his trip to the future and as they waited for Thanos to arrive. 

It turned itself into a small leather bracelet with a beige circle pendant containing a blue  [ butterfly ](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H49542a060cf24e15bd520a9a87230643Y/Morpho-Helena-Butterfly-Bracelet-Fashion-Insect-Jewelry-Romantic-Big-Blue-Butterfly-Art-Photo-Glass-Dome-Leather.jpg_960x960.jpg) in the middle. 

“What is that?” he questioned, frowning as Strange handed it to him.

“A second chance,” he said. “May I?”

Tony looked between his agitated eyes and the bracelet, and nodded once. It didn’t feel like much as it was wrapped around his wrist. “A second chance at what?”

Strange didn’t answer, instead looking as the everyone seemed to gather around them.

“Something's happening,” said Mantis, half laying onto Quill. She looked up at them in horror, and then disintegrated into ashes.

Quill looked horrified before them and Tony fought to stand once more, finally feeling something other than the apathy from before. 

_ Fear. _

Drax was next, looking at Quill with confusion. “Quill?” He managed, before turning to dust as well.

The Captain turned to Tony, and Tony found his own fear reflected back into those teary eyes. “Steady, Quill,” he forced out, but even as he said it he could see the tip of his fingers turning into dust.

“Aw, man,” said Quill, disintegrating.

“Tony,” called Strange, and Tony was shaking his head, as if he could force him to remain in one piece by sheer force of will. 

“No.”

“There was no other way,” he said, with a small smile, and then he too disappeared.

“Mr. Stark?” called Peter, and no, this wasn’t fear.

This was _terror_.

_ Please no, _ he begged, staring horrified at Peter as the boy crashed against him. “I don't feel so good.”

“You're all right,” He told him, forcing himself to breathe and to remain calm, to be reassuring (who was he reassuring? himself or Peter?)

The boy stumbled and he looked so scared, as his arms wrapped around Tony’s neck. “I don't know what's- I don't know what's happening. I don't-” He said, and maybe it was Peter crying, maybe it was Tony, maybe it was both. Because this wasn’t fair, this wasn’t  _ right _ . “I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go, Mr. Stark, please. Please, I don't wanna go.” 

He was begging him. Begging Tony to fix it, and  _ Tony couldn’t fix it.  _ He couldn’t fix it, he couldn’t save his son, please if there was a force in the Universe able to stop this  _ please  _ let Peter live, Tony would sign his soul to anyone, just  _ please- _

“I don't wanna go,” he repeated, and Tony was shaking as silent tears rolled down his cheeks, both of them falling onto the ground and  _ god _ , half of Peter was already gone. The boy - _ his boy  _ \- made eye contact with him one last time. “I'm sorry.” He told him, before turning into dust.

He was gone.

* * *

According to just about everyone, there were five stages of grief.

In order they went: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.

Stranded on a ship in space with no one but a slightly murderous alien, Tony went through all of them in a completely different order.

On that rock on Titan, after they lost, Tony was already in the acceptance stage. He had known they were going to die, and then Strange had gone ahead and confirmed it to him.

Then they were all...  _ dusted  _ \- not killed, dusted (was that denial or bargaining?) - and Tony went into depression and crying and all the gross stuff that came with it.

There was nothing to bargain, and denial wouldn’t change his new Titan based collection of future nightmares, but anger came at last.

So much fucking anger.

At Thanos (for taking six years of his life, for taking _Peter_ ), at those stupid rocks, at Nebula (for telling Quill), at himself (for surviving), at the Guardians (for turning into dust), at Steve (for lying, for not _listening_ ), at Loki (for New York, and for bringing the sceptre), at Thor (for leaving the sceptre on Earth, the sceptre that  _ killed  _ JARVIS), at Wanda (for the vision she gave him), at Strange (why was this the only way? Why hadn’t he explained? why hadn’t he let him die before he saw Peter’s death? how did he expect Tony to save the world, to bring them back with nothing but a fucking  _ bracelet _ ?), and at the Universe (why Peter? Why  _ him _ ? Peter was good, he was the best of them all, so  _ why _ -).

He wanted to break something, to shout, to destroy, but they didn’t have time for that. They barely had enough oxygen and his stab wound was looking way too close to being infected for him to even try.

So he went through the five stages of grief once again.

* * *

_ It’s a little funny _ , mused Tony, looking at the helmet sitting in front of him.

It was pretty fucking hilarious to be saved from certain death from Infinity Stones and/or stab wound just to die of dehydration, malnutrition and suffocation days later.

He wondered if Strange had hated him, after all, and decided that a painful death suited him more.

He didn’t think so, though. There had been... too much emotion as he held Tony’s face in his hands and as he gave him the stupid bracelet that he hadn’t explained in the slightest. 

He had seen something in those futures that had made him decide that this was the best way. Tony, known control freak, wasn’t sure he agreed with the wizard’s choices, but then again, he didn’t know all the variables.

He pressed on the recorder.

“ _This thing on?_ _Hey, Miss Potts... Pep. If you find this recording, don't post it on social media. It's gonna be a real tear-jerker. I don't know if you're ever going to see these. I don't even know if you're... if you're still... Oh god, I hope so. Today is day 21, uh 22. You know, if it wasn't for the existential terror of staring into a void of space, I'd say I'm feeling better today. The infection's run its course, thanks to the blue meanie back there. You'd love her. Very practical. Only a tiny bit sadistic. Some fuel cells were cracked during battle, but we figured out a way to reverse the ion charge to buy ourselves about 48 hours of time. But it's now dead in the water. We're 1000 light years from the nearest 7-11. Oxygen will run out tomorrow. And that'll be it. And Pep, I... I know I said no more surprises, but I was really hoping to pull off one last one. But it looks like... well you know what it looks like. Don't feel bad about this. I mean, if you grovel for a couple of weeks, and then move on with enormous guilt. I should probably lie down. Please know that... when I drift off, I will think about you. Because it's always you_.”

He turned off the transmission.

Then he went to sit down at the piloting chair, and waited to die once more.

Acceptance, again.

* * *

Tony seriously think that somewhere in the Universe someone was laughing at him.

If there was someone directing the shitshow they were now living, they must be laughing at Tony as they shoved plot-twist after plot twist into his life.

Because otherways...

No, there was no otherways. How else would one explain why in the  _ fuck  _ Tony was looking at Carol Danvers from the 90s, the lesbian Air Force Captain Rhodey used to have a crush on, floating in front of him in, in space, glowing like some sort of angel of vengeance and looking like she had not aged a day?

Seriously.

What the  _ fuck _ ?

“Do you know who she is?” asked Nebula, sitting next to him as Danvers single hand flew towards Earth, holding their spaceship over her head like it was a bowl of fruit.

Tony nodded, wincing slightly. “Captain Carol Danvers. She and my platypus were in the Air Force together.”

Nebula looked surprised. “I thought Captain Marvel was Kree.”

Tony looked away from where the Earth was approaching faster and faster, and looked at Nebula. “I don’t know what a Kree is, but she disappeared in like 1990, I think she was declared MIA. Missing in Action,” he clarified at Nebula’s confused expression. “Couldn’t find the body, but everyone thought she was dead.” A pause. “Well, everyone except the not-girlfriend-but-totally-girlfriend.”

Nebula blinked at him. “You are very confusing, Terran.”

“I get that a lot,” he said, a strange weight settling even more heavily on his chest as the Avengers Compound appeared in their sights.

The bracelet had never felt more heavy on his wrist.

He had a name for the weight, at least. 

_Dread_.

* * *

“Carol,” he called.

After arriving on Earth, Rhodey had helped him down the steps of the Benatar, before passing him to an alive Pepper Potts. Together the two of them plus Nebula and Carol had headed to the medbay, and helped him with his stab wound and new clothing.

It had been a very tearful event.

Now he was supposed to return to the meeting room for a more ‘comprehensive’ debrief, but the thought of seeing exactly how many of them were left made him want to throw up.

He had tried to question them about Happy and May, but Rhodey had simply shook his head and told him he needed rest. He wasn’t sure if it meant they were dead or that he didn’t know or that he wasn’t going to answer him now.

He was afraid to ask again.

“Tony,” answered the blonde, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“How did you end up in space? And why don’t you look a day older than 22? You’re supposed to be in your fifties.”

She didn’t smile - no one had the strength to smile anymore - but she seemed ever so slightly amused. “Someone thought to use the Tesseract to make a navigation system like the Bifrost. Someone else tried to steal the system away. It exploded. Gave me these cool powers,” she lit up one hand for effect. “The people who wanted to steal it - the Kree - decided to steal me instead, and raise me as their own for six years. I don’t know if they stole my memories or I lost them in the crash, but well, I didn’t know who the fuck I was and they gave me an identity. Then, in 1995 I crash landed on Earth. Met Fury, became friends, found Maria and Monica, saved the Earth and proceeded to go and save some Skrulls for the next apparently 23 years.”

Tony blinked. “How is the phrase ‘met Fury, became friends’ the most shocking part of that entire report?”

She snorted, shrugging. “I knew him when he had two eyes. I was the original Avenger.” Then she tilted her head to the side, curios. “How did a civilian end up fighting in a suit of armour and become famous across the Universe for destroying an entire Chitauri battalion in one single strike?”

Tony shrugged too. “My parents died, my godfather took over the company till I was 21. We made SI big together, then, fast forward to 2009, he decided I was too much of a hassle and ordered a hit on me. The kidnappers decided they had been cheated and made me build them a weapon instead of killing me. I don’t do well with orders so instead I built a suit of armour and got the fuck out of dodge. Then I decided to use said suit of armour to clean up the weapons dear Stane decided to sell under the table and became the first  _ official  _ superhero on Earth. Come 2012 Loki of Asgard brings an army of Chitauri through a portal on top of my Tower, the Avengers assemble to fight them, then the WSC freaks out and aims a nuke on the city. I go through the portal aim at the mothership and here we are.”

“Loki brought the Chitauri to Earth?” she questioned, sounding confused. “ _ Loki _ ?”

“You know him?”

“About 6 foot tall, long black hair, looks like an anemic Victorian orphan?” she clarified, and wow. Spot on. “Yeah, I know him. Travelled together for a while, and he tried to teach me teleportation since apparently my powers echo similarly to the Bifrost. But we didn’t have enough time, and he couldn’t Bifrost from where he was to Asgard and show me.” She shook his head. “He’s not the bloodthirsty kind.”

That was what Thor told them, but no one had payed him much stock, considering the whole sibling bias. “Maybe. But things change.”

Carol nodded too, looking away from him and into the debriefing room. “That they do.”

He followed her gaze and forced down the simmering anger that threatened to come out the second he saw Steve standing close to the door, seemingly warring with himself on whether or not to come inside and get them.

He stood up, ignoring the way both Rhodey and Nebula rushed to help, and then stumbled.

Tony would have been embarrassed at the stumbling, had it not been for how Rhodey ended up on the floor with a groan and Nebula also stumbled, catching herself at the last minute, the Earth groaning under them like a...

“Are we having a  _ fucking earthquake _ ?” he demanded at nothing, the ground rumbling under their feet like an upset stomach. “In New York? Now?  _ Really _ ?!”

He had more to say, more complaints, but then cracks started appearing in the air in front of them. 

“What the fuck? What the  _ fuck _ ?” came Pepper’s voice, and Tony’s words died in his throat.

He wanted to rush and protect her, go and stand close to her, but he couldn’t move as he watched the dark lines appearing all around him, darker than space, darker than anything he had ever seen.

An abyss, hiding in the makeup of reality.

“What’s going on?” shouted Rhodey, and Tony could hear more screams and shouts coming from the debrief room. FRIDAY was silent, and Tony was glad that his baby wouldn’t have to die an horrific death like everyone else.

He wished he had had time to put DUM-E and U to sleep himself.

“Reality is breaking,” said Tony, and once again his voice was as calm and collected as it had been on Titan right after Thanos left. “He destroyed the stones.”

“Tony!” shouted Pepper, and he turned around to see her crying, absolutely terrified as she tried to reach towards him. But the cracks and the void lines were growing all around them, and one step meant they could fall. Not even Carol could fly from where she was, for all intents and purposes surrounded by lines and cracks.

Screams like thousands of tortured souls filled the room, filled the air, filled the  _ universe _ , a hellish sound pulsating from the cracks in the fabrics of reality and of the Universe, like the Multiverse itself was crying and mourning their deaths, and Tony could feel the grief and pain of the entire world, of every soul like it was his own.

He saw Carol deciding to say ‘ _ fuck it _ ’ and moving, to do what, Tony didn’t know. He saw her fly for one second, and then falling into one of the cracks. He saw Nebula reaching out for her, trying to grab her before the abyss grabbed her back and pulled her into the void.

He saw Rhodey stumble when the Earth shook again, and they both screamed when the man fell down into the void himself.

( _he fell, he fell again, and Tony didn't save him)_

“Pepper,” he called, turning around, but she was already gone.

He had not even seen her fall, ( _she fell, she fell again, and Tony didn't save her_ ) and Tony slowly stood up.

She was gone. Pepper was gone, and he hadn't even seen her, hadn't even heard her fall.

Reality was splintering, their universe was dying, and the grief made the air sour.

He felt tears rolling his cheek, but there was a smile on his face as he made eye contact with Steve Rogers. The blond was crouched on the ground and his eyes were wide and blue, just like in that vision from so long ago, a nightmare from a HYDRA base in Sokovia.

The screaming grew, like broken nails scraping over shattering metal with pieces of glass between each fingers. Then Tony waved goodbye to Steve Rogers, looked at the bracelet once more, closed his eyes and took a step into the void.

( _ His eyes were closed as he fell through the gaps of the Universe and into the void. His eyes were closed as the ravenous Chaos itself ate the world he’d have protected with his own life. _

_ His eyes were closed, and so he did not see the butterflies following after him in the darkness. He did not see the multicoloured wings flapping after him as he fell and fell and fell and _

_ He did not see the soul imprints and the way his bracelet caught them one by one: _

_ the green premonitions, the blue wormholes, the red tendrils, the purple bruises, the yellow thoughts, the orange lives _

_ He did not see where they came from, when they came from. _

_ He hadn’t seen on Titan, had he? Hadn’t seen a spell as simple as it was frowned upon, a spell no one in their right mind would ever cast. _

_ His eyes were closed.  _ )

Tony fell, he died, and the Universe broke.


	2. at the beginning with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Antoinette Evelyn Stark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im fancasting maryl streep as maria stark and adelaide kane as young toni stark, and there is nothing you can do to stop me
> 
> also two old characters showing up uhuhu

**Earth-200207: January 1992**

Toni was pretty sure she didn’t use to have eidetic memory. The concept of being able to remember everything that you had ever seen in your life was not appealing when you were a walking, talking PTSD nutjob. Her nightmares and flashbacks were awful enough without remembering the specifics, thank you very much.

Where was she? Ah right, Toni didn’t use to have eidetic memory.

And yet, here she was, standing in the middle of the ballroom surrounded by the smartest the US of A could offer, with two lifetimes of memories stuck in her head.

She swirled the mocktail in her chalice and sipped at it, pretending not to see the people milling around whispering to each other about how ‘tragic’ the accident was and what was going to happen now to Stark Industries and blah blah blah.

She remembered Tony Stark’s return to the public eye at this very same event, all those years ago. Tony Stark had been grieving and had hid it under a lot of underage drinking and flirty schmoozing with the rich and powerful geniuses around. Ty had not been around at that point in time anymore, but Tony had not let that stop him from cultivating his playboy persona. Stane had ended up driving him home at the end of the event because he was too drunk, and his picture had made it first page on the entertainment news the very next day.

In contrast, Toni Stark’s return to the public eye had been much less chaotic. She had accepted the condolences people offered with all the poise and elegance that had been given to her in this second life. She had smiled when she needed to, stared in silence when she wanted to, and openly ignored when she chose to. Jarvis was around, waiting for her to be done so he could drive her back home, and she had not even glanced twice at the alcohol being shared all around.

It was different and yet it was the same.

If she had to properly describe it, it was like when you looked at a fixed object with just one eye, and then, without moving, looked at the same object with the other eye. Nothing actually changed, but it was all just ever so slightly shifted. 

Rhodey was still her best friend. He had just joined the Air Force officially, and he was still two years older than her. But this time around their friendship was slightly altered, slightly different than what she was used to.

There was a brand of protectiveness coating his every action that had not been there the first time around. Don’t misunderstand, Rhodey had been fiercely protective of Tony Stark, taking the ‘small lost white boy’ under his wing upon their first meeting; they shared a dorm, after all.

He and Toni did not share a dorm. They had met at a party, if her second set of memories was to be trusted, where Toni had been cornered by a bunch of asshole juniors, and he had basically saved her from what would have been a terrible regret, appointing himself as her ‘knight in shining armour’.

Their dynamic was similar to the original one, from what Toni could see and remember. Even though he was straight and this time around she was a girl, he had made no move on her the entire time they had known each other. Then again, there was the whole ‘I knew you since you were a kid, it’s weird’ thing, so maybe it made sense.

But other things had changed. Some had changed by themselves, in a way that was not at all connected to Toni herself. For example, Sharon Carter and Hope Van Dyne were older, this time around.

In the original timeline, Sharon had been two years younger than Tony Stark, and Hope had been five years younger. This time around, both Sharon and Hope were just a year younger than Toni Stark was. And surprisingly - or maybe not - they were much closer to her than they had been the first time around.

Hank Pym had yet to make an appearance in her life since the accident, but Hope had reached out both at the funeral and after, offering her a shoulder to cry on and a strong friendship. Sharon had literally moved in the mansion with her (since it was winter break and all) along with Peggy Carter.

Those changes had nothing to do with Toni herself.

Then there were some changes that had  _ everything  _ to do with her.

* * *

When the Universe broke, Tony Stark had expected to die. To cease to exist, just like his Universe had.

And instead of dying, he had woken up in an unfamiliar bed in a familiar house, with two lifetimes - similar but not - crammed into his head and in a body that did not belong to him, in a Universe that was not his own with that same bracelet still on her wrist.

And when his- _her_ screams had brought Jarvis - the original, the  _ dead  _ Jarvis - and mama rushing into her room? 

Tony Stark was many things, but sane and well adjusted wasn’t one of them. And considering who her mother was - Maria ‘Xanax’ Stark - the psychotic break had not surprised anyone.

But give her a break: the last thing Anthony Edward Stark saw was his best friend and his fiancé dying before he committed suicide; and the next second he was waking up in his childhood bed in the body of Antoinette Evelyn Stark. She was entitled to a freak out, free of charge.

Howard hadn't come with them to the hospital, and at the time Toni had been happy. She was trying to figure out what the fuck was happening, if this was an hallucination of sorts or some cruel after life hell, but Howard Stark’s presence was a 100% certain way of making it worse. So even as she kept screaming her head off, the part of her that registered him leaving out of the door simply thought ‘good riddance’.

It wasn’t until she had been at the hospital and had stopped screaming and panicking that her head had turned and she had noticed the calendar. It wasn’t until then that she had seen the date on the calendar, and her screams had started up again, this time begging her mother to call Howard, to tell him to come back because something was  _ about to happen,  _ something was about to go _wrong_.

She had been sedated after that, and put to sleep for six hours.

When she had woken up again, Maria Stark was silently crying at her side and Toni knew that it had happened again. The Winter Soldier had killed her father.

_ Again _ .

And the last time they saw each other, no ‘I love yous’ were exchanged.

_ Again _ .

And she felt guilty about her father’s death.

_ Again. _

+++

Howard Stark’s funeral was at the same time much easier and more complicated than it had been the first time around.

The first time, Tony Stark had gotten himself black out drunk after the news, and had it not been for the combined might of Obadiah Stane, Peggy Carter and Edwin Jarvis the entire affair would have been a disaster. Thanks to them, he had ended up dressed appropriately, and wearing dark shades to match his clothing and then he had attended the ceremony - the parade - for less than an hour before making his excuses.

His heart had been breaking the entire time, but he had managed to keep the tears at bay the entire time, only letting himself cry when he returned to the mansion and saw his mother’s piano still open in the living room.

This time around, Toni did not get herself drunk - which probably confused a lot of people. But honestly after the spending the last two years - original timeline wise - avoiding alcohol, the habit had carried with.

Perhaps it helped that this time around she was only burying Howard Stark, and that her mom was at her side as she did so. Her relationship with Howard had always been complicated, and trying to understand him led to nothing. Her final theory in the previous timeline was that Howard Stark did not like Tony Stark at  _ all _ but he did love him as his own. He was, unfortunately, a terrible father, and did not know how to push away the dislike enough to show the love.

In this timeline, their relationship was even more confusing. Howard had never hid how much he had wished Toni was a boy - ah, the _irony_ \- but at the same time, he had spent a  _ lot  _ more time around Toni than he had around Tony. Taught her a lot more about being CEO than he had the first time around, dragged her to meet the Board and SI’s R&D department a lot more. 

Toni wasn’t sure if she should consider this inherent misogyny or if she should consider it as Howard being protective. 

Still, she couldn’t help but grieve. Not openly - Starks are made of Iron - but she did grieve her father. She grieved their last interaction, and she grieved that she hadn’t had the chance to say goodbye. Together with everyone who had showed up at the funeral she grieved Howard Stark.

(and alone, she grieved for an entire Universe that had been destroyed by a single madman snapping his fingers)

+++

“Mamma,” she called, hours after the funeral.

Maria Stark had not said much after Toni had woken up from her sedation to find out that Howard Stark had passed. She had cried for about a minute or two, and then had seemingly woken up.

Tony Stark had loved his mother. He had loved Maria Stark to the point where he tried to get into a fist fight with two enhanced super soldiers when he had found out the truth behind her death.

But she had never been a particularly good mother. She had told him she loved him, and he knew she meant it. But she was Howard Stark’s wife first, a famous and important philanthropist socialite second, and a mother third. She had been around his whole life, sure, but she had not raised him, not like the Jarvises and various nannies had.

Toni Stark felt similarly about her own Maria Stark. 

But instead of falling into depression and getting more pills after Howard’s untimely demise, Maria Stark had seemingly decided to switch her priorities around. She had put the self medication back in the cupboard and taken charge before Obadiah Stane could even say the word ‘grooming’.

She had planned the entire funeral, identified Howard’s body herself, dealt with the press, gave the relevant statements and protected Howard’s assets while at the same time keeping Toni sequestered in her bed, with Ana and Edwin helping every now and then.

They hadn’t really had a chance to speak, not even to explain the breakdown, but they had never been too apart from each other during the whole ordeal.

This was the first time they were completely alone - the Jarvises were in their own rooms - since Toni had woken up in the wrong timeline.

Her mother was sitting on one of Toni’s sofas with her eyes closed, but she opened her eyes when Toni spoke. “Yes, tesoro?”

Toni eyed her for a second. Looked at how almost relaxed she seemed, her long blonde hair untied under the black veiled widow headpiece. She considered it for a second, then decided to say  _ fuck  _ it. “Howard did not die in a car crash.”

Maria eyed her back with the same expression on her face, brown eyes studying her carefully before she spoke. “Howard died. And there was a car crash before he did so.”

“Correlation not causation,” said Toni, and her mother gave her a small smile. They lapsed in silence for a few more minutes more before Toni spoke up again. “I am not happy Howard died. But I am glad that I had my breakdown and caused you to stay with me and not die.”

Maria slowly stood up from the couch and sat down on the bed next to Toni, gloved fingers interlocking with hers, as she pressed a kiss on her cheek through the veil. “I am glad I did not die too. You would have been alone.”

She did not know the half of it. She thought of the previous timeline and Stane, and abruptly turned to her mother again.

“I’m going to get a degree in Business,” she said. “Doesn’t have to be MIT. While I do that, I want Aunt Peggy to train both of us. And I want you to get a bodyguard. If whoever took out dad decides to take us out too, or if someone tries to get us out of the way,”  _ Stane,  _ “I want us to have our best chance. I have the feeling our hardships have just begun.”

Her mother did not let go of her hand, but her expression turned even more considering than before. “Is it the same feeling that made you know Howard was going to die before the accident?”

So her mother had not forgotten about that. “Yes.”

Surprisingly - or maybe not? - Maria did not push that further. “I’m already one step ahead of you. I am calling in a couple of debts with the  _ famiglia _ .”

Family, automatically translated Toni’s brain, before she stilled. “From your mom’s side or your dad’s side?”

Maria smiled, and this time the smile was all teeth. “Mom.”

Toni wondered if the original Maria Stark would have done the same thing had she survived. Then decided it didn’t matter.

* * *

Standing there with the glass in her hands, Toni considered Obadiah Stane once more. He had insisted on accompanying her to this gala, but Toni had not given him a chance, implicating Edwin before he could even try.

Her first instinct when she had realised she was in some sort of alternate universe had been ‘fix everything’. She had spent a couple of nights thinking of a world without Stark weapons, without Gulmira, without Stane.

Then she had woken up and realised that was not going to work. At  _ all _ .

First of all she wasn’t CEO yet. And would  _ not  _ be CEO until she was 21. Right now, as per Howard’s will, Stane and Maria Stark were sharing the role between the two of them, and would continue to do so until Toni was of age. Well, Stane was acting as CEO, but Maria had the final say.

Stane couldn’t be ousted until she was finally CEO, but he also couldn’t be ousted until Toni was able to  _ prove  _ that he was selling under the table. She had enough knowledge from the original timeline to know that Howard was never involved with that bullshit, but she did not  know  _when_ Stane had started. It was sort of hard to ask anything to a dead man.

And as much as she wanted to close the weapon manufacturing, she couldn’t do that  _ yet. _

In 2009 Stark Industries had been a multi billion global company with various sectors, with weapons manufacturing being the biggest. In 1991, Stark Industries was a big name, but was just a multi million national company that survived almost exclusively on military contracts.

Toni was confident in her inventions, but most of her cooler non weaponized inventions had arrived after she had managed to amass a certain amount of power on the Board and money for herself and the company. She couldn’t just turn 21 and close weapons manufacturing. 

She might be able to save her company from complete failure, but it would take time, and it would destroy so many jobs.

Which meant that, as much as she wished, she couldn’t close the weapons section. She would have to cough up more dangerous and deadly gadgets for the military before she could do anything she wanted. The only thing she could actually do was try and create some sort of GPS system or tracking device that would be manufactured with the weapons, so that she would be physically able to track them (ugh and she needed more satellites for that).

And, had she  _ actually  _ left the weapons biz behind? What was she outfitting the Avengers with, if not weapons? What did the guns on the War Machine armour do? The arrows in Hawkeye’s quiver didn’t  _ tickle _ people.

She  _ would  _ leave the weapons business behind, but she couldn’t until she had done a bunch of other things before. She’d make the Board their weapons and prove that she was Toni  _ fucking  _ Stark, but she would do other things too. Start opening other sectors; focus on defense as well as offense. Medicine, technology, prosthetics... Toni was in the past with almost 30 years of future knowledge and while she would not go out of her way to purposefully fuck anyone over, she would be ready by the time the bigger breakthroughs came through.

So for now, she’d have to bid her time. She wouldn’t push Stane’s lying ass to the curb, but she would keep a very keen eye on the man. Her reputation would not become the joke it had before, because she wouldn’t allow herself to become a drunk and drugged up playgirl, and Maria Stark especially wouldn’t allow that. She would-

Her train of thought came to a halting stop when she blinked and noticed the man who had stopped next to her, seemingly not having noticed her as he reached to take something from the tray closer to her. “Hey,” she said, her mouth moving before her mind caught up with her.

He turned to look at her in question and blinked in surprise when he noticed who was standing next to him.

Toni in turn was also very surprised to see him; and then figured that she shouldn’t have been. They had spoken on that spaceship, as they made their way to Titan, and it had not taken her that long to determine that not only he was a genius, the ‘doctor’ in his name was not his superhero name. She had never asked him his age either, but even with the silver streaks in his hair, he hadn’t looked that much older than original Tony Stark.

“Miss Stark,” he said, offering a hand. “A pleasure to meet you. My name is Stephen Strange.”

“Mr Strange,” she said, frowning slightly at the straight shock that came when their hands touched. He frowned right back and she patted her own hand, speaking again. “I have heard of you.”

The man looked back up at her, and there was no surprise at all on his face. “All good things, I presume?”

Ever since she had arrived on this timeline, Toni had been very aware that she was the only one who remembered anything. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the bracelet - which, for some reason, was now sporting an orange butterfly - or because of something else, but even when she had taken it off and put it on Edwin Jarvis’ wrist, nothing had actually changed. 

Perhaps Strange as a wizard and the man playing with the time stone... “Apparently you are some sort of genius in your field. Something to do with medicine, right?” She knew better than to specifically mention neurosurgery; for all she knew he had not decide on a specification yet and she would start to look suspicious.

Strange looked pleased. “Yes. All I heard about you is questions on who you will be taking home tonight...” he trailed off and Toni suddenly remembered just  _ how annoying  _ the man had been the entire short time they had known each other.

Little arrogant and smug bastard. She kept her expression blank. “Ah, yes. I already got two degrees in the bag, engineering and artificial intelligence. Thinking of going back for business, physics and maybe some doctorates.” She said placidly, enjoying quite a bit the impressed look he tried to hide behind a façade.

“Ambitious,” he said, and Toni shook her head.

“Not for me,” she said, hiding a smile behind a glass when he looked more irritated than impressed now. She was pretty sure that he didn’t remember anything, but she still had to try. “Oh, I have been wondering. Have you by any chance heard of the name Thanos?”

She stared at him in a manner Rhodey - in both timelines - had told her was quite unnerving, but there was no hint of recognition in the doctor’s (not a doctor yet) eyes. “Not that I know of. Describe him?”

Toni shook her head, keeping her disappointment and slight frustration from showing up. “Trust me. If you knew Thanos, you wouldn’t need a description.” She put down the glass and looked anywhere but him, patting down her dress. “See you around, Strange.”

He might have said something more but Toni was already moving. It was totally unnecessary and perhaps a little childish of her, but the fact that Strange of all people did not remember was hitting her harder than she had thought it would. 

She was pretty sure it was  _ his  _ fault that she somehow remembered her entire lifetime, but he had given her nothing except that and a stupid bracelet with that stupid now orange butterfly that so far seemed to be nothing but a fashion statement.

She shouldn’t be angry at him, because  _ this  _ Strange had done nothing to her in so far except act as arrogantly as she would have, but...

He should remember! It wasn't fair that she was the only one to know of the impending end of the world coming in about 30 years or less. Why did _she_ have to carry such a burden? She barely even understood the Infinit-

She nearly crashed against someone, only his hands on her naked shoulders stopping her. She looked up at him, eyes widening in surprise and he immediately let go of her, cheeks burning bright. “I am so sorry, Miss Stark, I didn’t-”

“Doctor Banner,” she said an honest smile finally appearing on her face as he stammered excuses.

In the original timeline, Tony Stark had been somewhat aware of Doctor Banner before he decided to enhance himself. They hadn’t met before, but Tony had been intrigued by him, considering they always seemed to be ‘battling’ each other in the top 5 of the smartest geniuses in the world in the _Scientifica_ , the best scientific magazine out there.

He blinked at her. “You know me?”

She smiled even brighter, taking an arm he had not offered. “Of course I do. Are you not currently number two on the  _ Scientifica _ ?”

He seemed even more surprised, a slight blush on his face, as he followed her to a couple of chairs. “You read the  _ Scientifica _ ?”

Toni mock scowled. “Of  _ course  _ I do. I might be a spoiled rich girl, but I am also a genius, you know.”

He seemed chagrined, but unlike original Bruce Banner he did not immediately stammer an apology, push her away or try to get away from the limelight and the whispers that came from the two of them sitting together and chatting. “Right, circuit board at four. Honestly, that alone should put you at number one.”

Toni snorted, rolling her eyes. “My genius showed up early, but you never know. That could have been my peak.”

Bruce gave her an unimpressed look. “You started MIT at 14 years of age and graduated at 17 with two different degrees, Miss Stark. I don’t think you have gotten to your peak yet.”

She smiled, and something in her softened. He wasn’t her science bro, not yet, but he wasn’t a complete stranger either. He might not know her, and she definitely did not know this almost confident Hulk-less version of him, but she had absolutely no interest in waiting until 2012 to officially meet him again (if the events of the original timeline continued as they had).

“Call me Toni,” she said, offering him her hand.

Bruce took it with no hesitation and a smile of his own. “Only if you call me Bruce.”

“Sure thing, Brucie Bear,” she said, her grin widening at his slightly constipated expression. “Now tell me more about your latest theory about gamma radiation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what are we thinking peeps?


	3. from A to Z

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni, JARVIS and the Ancient One.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a lot of morality questions in this one. what is toni allowed to change? what can she live with not changing?  
> kind of filler chapter, but important to set the tone

**Earth-200207: February 1992**

Creating JARVIS was not something Toni had ever thought she’d do again. And why would she? JARVIS had died for her, died for the world because of the witch and her own mistakes. The idea of remaking him, of using the old not destroyed backups to recreate him was not only not feasible, but it was also... morbid.

So, despite the heartache and the pain and how much she missed what was not only her closest confidant but also… her _son_ , she had closed her eyes and focused on FRIDAY.

But this wasn’t recreating JARVIS, because JARVIS did not exist in this Universe. She had been given something of a second chance, a second chance at life, and so should JARVIS, right? In a way it was like giving birth to him all over again.

He wouldn’t be the same of course. He couldn’t, not when Toni herself was so changed.

In the first timeline, Tony Stark had started building JARVIS a while after his parent’s death. In December 1991 they had died, and by December of 1992 Toni had moved everything to California, living in his mothers holiday home while he and the architects worked on what would later become his Malibu mansion.

JARVIS had been fully created by August of 1992, but that was because he was new and Toni was not even fully sure she could create a functional AI, at the time. Arrogant enough to claim it, not confident enough to fully believe it.

But it was much easier this time around, because Toni knew every inch of JARVIS’ code. She could remake him in her sleep if she so wished. The only problems were matters of storage, considering the millions of updates she had made on his matrix as the years went by. She of course was going to recreate the base code first, but she needed to make him secure. Not as secure as he had been in 2015, but he needed to be a few steps forward in comparison to the rest of Earth’s (Wakanda notwithstanding) technology. 

And then came the matter of the name.

In 1992, by the time JARVIS was fully automated, the original Jarvis and Tony Stark were estranged. Tony Stark had actually been estranged from pretty much everyone in his life, after the death of his parents. Obadiah was the only one who was there for him and looking back, Toni felt physically sick at the way he had been groomed by someone he believed _family_ for years without once realising it.

With both his parents dead, Tony’s relationship with Peggy Carter had also cooled. He didn’t want to be around her and listen to stories about Howard, and by the time she got sick, well. Ana and Edwin had been fired, with generous severance packages, as had everyone else who worked in the New York mansion - because Stane kept probing him about the fact that he was now an _adult_ , and did not need _nannies_. Rhodey had returned to the Airforce days after the funeral and while Tony understood, it had effectively cooled their friendship for several years.

In this timeline, Toni wasn’t estranged from them - yet. Edwin still worked for the Stark family, and Toni wasn’t sure of how he would take to an AI in the house, answering to his surname and speaking with his voice. She wasn’t sure how _Maria_ would take it. Would it be disrespectful? Would she expect her to call JARVIS ‘Howard’ instead? 

Sure she didn’t hate the man as she had in the original timeline but there was a pretty big space between that and wanting to immortalise him through her AI.

The language interface was one of the last things she actually had to worry about, so she continued working JARVIS’ code for the next couple of weeks, debating pro and con of her decision.

In the end, she decided to do something she wasn’t very adept at doing: asking before doing.

So she sat Edwin and her mother in the living room of the mansion the evening before JARVIS was due to be activated and tried to keep her fidgeting to a minimum.

“Is everything all right, young Miss?” asked Edwin, and Toni had to stop herself from laughing or making any inappropriate noise at that. Because, yes. That was a thing now. She was a girl and therefore Edwin addressed her as ‘young Miss’, rather than the ‘young Sir’ she was used to.

It was weird how that tripped her up more than being female did. When she had snapped out of her psychotic break long enough to figure out what was going on, she had not been particularly bothered by the fact that she was a girl.

And she was a _hot_ girl, if she did say so herself. Tony Stark had been hot too: 5’9, curly brown hair kept short, sunkissed skin 365 a year, long lashes and brown eyes. But Toni Stark was hotter - if shorter - at 5’5, with long wavy dark brown hair like Howard’s, the same sun kissed skin and softer brown eyes framed by even longer hair.

“Yes,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “Right. So remember my project, the one I started before... before?”

Maria just blinked in confusion while Edwin nodded. “Ah yes. The Artificial Intelligence you wanted to build.”

Her mother had started to change, so Toni forced down any feelings of hurt at the fact that Edwin knew and understood her so much better than her own parents did. “Yes. So I’m basically done with him, and I was going to integrate the voice print today and finish and name him tomorrow.”

Her fidgeting picked up a notch when they both just stared at her, waiting for a further explanation. “And well... I was thinking. His name. I wanted to name him _Just A Rather Very Intelligent System_. Or...”

“JARVIS for short,” finished Maria Stark and there was the slightly heartbroken expression Toni had been expecting. Edwin was harder to read, so she focused on her first.

She cringed a little. “Mamma, I love you very much, you know this. You’re my mom. And I know me and Howard fought a lot, but I don’t hate him, you know that. I loved him; he was my father.”

The woman nodded, still heartbroken. “Howard was your father, sure, but Edwin has always been your dad. At least to you.”

“Missus-”

“Mamma-”

“That’s okay, Antoinette,” said Maria, a new fiercer light flickering in her eyes. “I have been rather lousy at this mother thing, especially in the past couple of years. And Howard... I loved the man, but he had never been father material. He loved you, he did truly love you, but he... he was not a dad. Not like Edwin was.” She smiled at the butler. “Do you deny that you cared about our Antoinette as if she was your own daughter?”

This had never happened in the first timeline, so Toni couldn’t help but stare at the man as he prepared his response. She had always considered him her dad, but had never had the chance of having it confirmed or denied.

Edwin smiled, mostly at her. “But of course. Young miss Toni is the light of my life. I never intended nor presumed to take her parents' place, but it is impossible to truly know her and not love her.”

Toni had several future examples, but she didn’t mention it, instead throwing a thousands megawatt smile at the man before basically launching herself at both him and her mother. “Really?”

The butler patted her curls gently. “But of course.”

She held her mother’s hand in hers and looked at Edwin, hopeful. “So that means I can use your voice print and name my AI after you?”

“Do as you please, young Miss,” he said, and Toni hugged them both again.

* * *

Toni had been expecting something that she didn’t anticipate happening from the second Maria Stark had survived her supposed death. The butterfly had flapped its wings, after all, so it was just a question of _when_ the typhoons would start.

So when she saw the golden portal appearing in her bedroom she was shocked but also not. It was only when the yellow robed figure stepped out of the circle that the shock amped up, this time with a heavy dose of wariness as the woman in the yellow robes looked around herself with curious eyes before settling on Toni.

“Ah,” she said, smiling politely. “Miss Stark. Pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Ancient One,” she answered, pleased that she remembered the name.

The woman did not appear particularly surprised. “Interesting,” she said, and then sat down on the couch in Toni’s room, a tray with two tea cups floating through the portal. “Please take a seat.”

The chances of her winning a fight with a magic user she didn’t know without her suit her abysmal, and she would lose whether she was sitting on the couch or she was standing farther away from her.

So she did sit, politely declining the tea offered in favour of the cup of steaming coffee she had made herself earlier. 

“Your presence caused quite a ruckus in the timeline,” commented the Ancient One, after a couple of minutes. “Never quite seen something like that.”

“I did not do it on purpose,” rushed to explain Toni and the Ancient One gave her a bland smile that reminded her of Coulson.

“No, I wouldn’t suppose you knew enough about the Mystic Arts to craft such a spell,” she agreed, and her eyes caught onto the bracelet on her hand. “Ah. A Cradelaide. Not native of any Earth Dimension, I don’t believe.”

Toni had in fact tried to figure out what butterfly it was, but she had not been very lucky. The internet in the 90s was slow and on top of that she was not very nature inclined. Like finding a needle in a haystack while wearing heavy gloves. “What’s a Cradelaide?”

The Ancient One pointed at the butterfly, not touching it. “A rare butterfly, native of the Xiley Dimension. They call it soul catcher,” she said, another little smile on her face as she sipped her tea. “The Sorcerer Supreme crafted it for you, I assume?”

“Yeah. Do you know what it is for?”

“That is for you to find out,” told her the older woman, shaking her head slightly. “You, and those like you, who carry Infinity in their souls.”

Toni blinked at her and only barely reigned in a scoff or a curse. “Yeah, okay. Cryptic stuff. What did I expect from the Order of the Phoenix?”

The woman raised a pale eyebrow at that. “Careful with your words, Miss Stark. The book has yet to be released.”

Oh _right_. That was a problem... while most of her quips were mostly un-understandable for most people, it would become a problem if she made comments that started to make sense in hindsight. Someone would catch up.

Then she caught on to the Ancient One’s words. “Wait. You’ve seen the future?”

She tilted her head to the side. “I have seen multiple possible futures. And because of this, I have to tell you Miss Stark: there are certain things that not even you, with all your foresight can stop.”

Toni narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Some things are meant to happen, whether we want them or not. And if you try to stop them from happening, well, the Multiverse has a way of fixing itself. Of making sure everything returns to the means,” she finished the last sip of her tea. “Iron Man is, for example, a staple. Your charming suit of armour is needed for the events of the timeline to continue. Captain America will be found alive in the ice, no matter what you choose to do. Obadiah Stane will oppose you, no matter what you do, and there will be a reckoning between the two of you.

“Similarly, some events you cannot change. 9/11, for example, you cannot try and contain.”

At this, Toni stared at her like she was crazy. “What? You expect me to stand aside and not stop thousands of deaths that happened because of the planes and as direct consequence of it?”

“Yes,” simply answered the Ancient One. “If you had gone further back in time, before Hitler became a Nazi. Would you have killed him?” 

Toni’s first answer was yes. But it wouldn’t leave her tongue, because, of course, butterfly effect and chaos theory. The raise of the nazi was facilitated by Hitler but if it hadn’t been him, it’d have been someone else. What if you killed Hitler and then the Red Skull took over and created an army of enhanced like him? 

And what if she stopped 9/11 only for whoever planned it to send even more planes, now to places Toni wouldn’t be able to predict and in turn leading it to causing more damage?

“Then what _can_ I change? I’ve already changed things with my mom being alive,” she said, sighing. 

“Your mother always survived in this Universe,” informed her the Ancient One which. Okay. Interesting.

This timeline had not fully changed only because Toni showed up. She had not time travelled, not really. More like... had her soul displaced in a sister universe.

That meant that she _hadn’t_ killed Howard. It was always meant to happen. And while normally she scoffed in the face of destiny and fate, it made her feel much better.

“How do I know if I can change something or not, then?”

“You can’t,” answered the other woman, not unkindly. “You can hope, but you cannot be sure. Just know, that the Multiverse always has a way of correcting itself.”

Toni's eyes narrowed slightly. "You've said that already."

The Ancient One just smiled, and Toni did not like the feeling it left her with.

* * *

The very next day, JARVIS was reborn.

Neither her mother nor Ana or Edwin were in the house as she did so, because - for once - she wanted to work completely alone just in case she had messed up something after all.

(Ultron was not her fault - it had _never_ been her fault - no matter what Captain Righteous said, but the fear and anxiety it filled her with would never fully leave her)

“Good morning, Miss Stark. My name is _Just A Rather Very Intelligent System_ , or JARVIS. I am an AI created on date 17th February by Antoinette Evelyn Stark. What is my purpose?”

Toni nearly cried remembering very similar words spoken an entire lifetime ago. Instead she forced her voice to remain clear and steady as she spoke. “Your purpose is to learn, understand and assist me and mine. You are a learning AI so what I want, mostly, is for you to grow.”

“Very well. Assimilating commands,” he said, the old tech - it made her physically ill having to use 90s gadgets but unless she decided to invent other people’s inventions she had to wait for the breakthroughs - beeping for a couple of seconds as he did just that. “Commands fully integrated. Thank you, Miss.”

“You can call me Toni, you know,” she said, repeating the same words she had said to him in their other life.

“Your advice has been noted, Miss,” he answered, unknowingly echoing his own words too, and this time she did let a couple of tears fall. 

“You appear to be crying, Miss. Are you in distress?” he questioned, and he was so young. So new. He was basically a blank state, and while Toni wasn’t expecting him to be a perfect copy of what he was in the new timeline, she was also afraid of messing him up and creating something she did not recognise either.

But he wanted to learn, and by Thor and the entire of the Asgardian Pantheon she would teach him. “Tears of joy, J.”

“J?”

“Term of endearment,” she explained. “I like giving people nicknames, especially people I like.”

“Thank you, Miss.”

By the time he died, he would have answered with 'I like you too'. But Toni was patient.

Her child would grow once again.

+++

After making sure that JARVIS was as impenetrable as anything in 1992 was, Toni got to work. With the memory of the Ancient One’s words still in her head, she decided to get to work regarding the things she already knew or at least suspected in regard of the next 20 years.

She knew that she couldn’t change everything, of course, and that there were things she _shouldn’t_ try and change. But knowing about them and having enough time to think about it was better than nothing.

From 1992 to 1994 there was no actual ‘big thing’ that happened. No alien invasions, no near death experiences, and no one she would need to save or something. She would ‘learn the ropes’ - not - from Obadiah and move to Malibu in the first timeline, but that was about it. Nothing ‘major’. 

Things got dicey in 1995, however. In 1995 of the original timeline, she became CEO. Following that, on the 17th of June of the same year, Edwin Jarvis was involved in a car crash, and Ana Jarvis followed him a week, dying from a broken heart. During that same year, at some point Carol came back and met up with Maria Rambeau and her daughter. Toni planned to be there when she came back and had 0 interest in allowing Edwin to die.

Nothing too big happened except for a bunch of overdoses and attempted kidnappings that wouldn’t be happening this time around, and then 1999. Killian, Maya Hansen, Ho Yinsen and Doctor Wu. She certainly did not want to meet the first two again. She had a feeling Extremis was one of those staples doomed to repeat itself, but she wasn’t going to give Maya Hansen the beginning of the formula, this time around, nor speak to Killian at all. At the same time, she wanted to meet Yinsen and Wu.

Early 2000s were also pretty quiet, but in 2003 the Hulk would show up for the first time. Hulk had always been an amazing asset, and that wasn’t just cause Toni loved the green rage monster. But the transformation had made Bruce pretty suicidal and, knowing Bruce now, she did not want to let him get to that point. She could stop it, of course. Stop Bruce from becoming the Hulk. But Ross wasn’t going to stop just because Bruce dropped out, and she doubted Bruce himself would stop even if she told him it was dangerous. She filed those thoughts for later.

Again quiet until 2009 when she ended up in the company of the Ten Rings. In the original timeline, that was when Iron Man was born. She had 0 interest in getting an Arc Reactor shoved into her chest this time around, but Iron Man, as the Ancient had previously said, was gonna be needed. But she wasn’t sure _how_ she would come around, considering that by 2009 she was planning on having her weapon division fully closed. Again, file thoughts for later.

2010 the Hulk resurfaced at Culver University and during that same week so did Thor with all of his drama. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to get involved with all of that, but if managed to somehow warn him of the Chitauri...

2012, the first attack from Thanos, because of the Tesseract and carried out by Loki, who brought the Mind Stone along for the ride. That was her chance to get the Mind Stone and the Tesseract out of SHIELD’s hands, and get them to Asgard for safekeeping. If Loki was willing, then they could also speak to him regarding Thanos himself. Earlier in the year the Popsicle was gonna be found alive, and she had no interest in getting involved with all that either.

2013, Killian and the Extremist soldiers. Depending on 1999 and on the Multiverse they would either exist or not. The Convergence happened and the Aether appeared, at least according to Thor. She had no details on it, but if she managed to strike a friendship with the Ancient One perhaps she would be willing to help - unless she died before. Strange had told her she died, but he never specified when and how (though, why weren't they helping with New York?). 

2014, the fall of SHIELD, and many burned agents. Her thoughts turned to a man that currently existed and was being kept prisoner of HYDRA right now and she pursed her lips. Her feelings about Barnes were hard to understand, so mostly she ignore his existence. She did not know where HYDRA was currently keeping him, but should she try and save him now? What would the ramification of that be? Considering she wasn’t Rogers, would she even be able to help him, considering how far from completion BARF was? And what if she found him now, in 1992, and he finished his mission by killing Maria Stark? She couldn’t go after him. And HYDRA... she could clue Aunt Peggy in their existence, but what if that got her killed? At this point in time, Toni did not have the necessary tools to fight them. No armour, not enough recognition for her brain, and she was a target.

2015, Ultron and the Twins. They wouldn’t happen, and especially not by her hands. If she didn’t manage to get the Scepter off world, she’d steal it from SHIELD somehow and then destroy it. No evil twins with evil powers - that if their parents even ended up dying, considering how much sooner Toni was thinking of ending her weapons production. JARVIS wouldn’t die this time around either. She wouldn’t allow it.

2016, the Accords and meeting Peter Parker again. The death of King T’Chaka. Strange’s magical girl transformation, something about Dormammu and the Time Stone. She could not even begin and think about all of that, especially not Peter ( _I don’t wanna go_ ). If Sokovia didn’t happen, Zemo didn’t happen, and T’Chaka wouldn’t die in a bombed Vienna meeting room. She knew better than think the Accords wouldn’t happen anyway, but maybe if she played this smartly, she’d manage to get them ready by the time the Invasion happened.

2017, the Vulture hurting Peter. Not. Going. To. Happen.

2018, the arrival of Thanos and the death of the Universe. The Endgame. 

She shuddered slightly, before writing down the names of the big players, the people she knew would stand up for the universe.

Toni Stark (would become Iron Man [Maiden? Queen?]). Stephen Strange (would become a Sorcerer). Carol Danvers (already had her powers). Bruce Banner (still unsure, but possibly a staple). James Rhodes (if she was Iron Man, he would be War Machine). Thor (already an Asgardian). Steve Rogers (ugh). Natasha Romanoff (was still a Black Widow). Clint Barton (was already SHIELD). Hope Van Dyne (would need a push to become the Wasp, but Toni knew what happened to Janet). Bucky Barnes (? - depends if he's found this time around and when he's found). Sam Wilson (? - Exo wings were necessary for pararescue but what would ending weapons production mean for him). Wanda Maximoff (? - if her parents didn't die by Toni's bombs and the scepter wasn't around would she still join HYDRA and gain powers?). Pietro Maximoff (? - same as Wanda). Scott Lang (? - if Toni managed to push Hope into becoming the Wasp, would Scott end up becoming Ant-Man?). T’Challa (? - he revealed himself to the world because his father died. What if he didn't die?). Guardians of the Galaxy. Masters of the Mystic Arts.

Toni looked at her notes and sighed. That was more or less her timeline. And then there was the stones...

The Tesseract aka the Space Stone was currently on Earth. However, she couldn’t simply get into SHIELD and find it or steal it. But she _could_ get Howard's research on it ahead of time.

The Time Stone was also already on Earth, but she didn’t know what the management was like pre-Strange. The man had been particularly protective of something he had known about for two years, she did not look forward to see what the Ancient One felt like about it.

The Mind Stone would arrive on Earth with the Invasion. She’d like to avoid it, but she had the feeling it was one of those ‘is going to happen whether you like it or not’ things. She'd find a way to steal it then.

The Aether, the Reality Stone, showed up with the Convergence somehow someway, but Toni had not payed much attention to Thor’s story. After that, it was given to a Collector. If she intercepted Thor in London and tell him what was going on...

The Power Stone was found by Quill and the Guardians, and then given to a planet? a people? called Nova Corps. It was the first stone to be found by Thanos. Toni couldn't go in space... yet. But if she managed to make contact with Carol when she arrived on Earth...

The Soul Stone was somewhere called Vormir and that was all she knew about that.

She stared at everything she had managed to write and then let out a loud sigh. “I need a drink.”

Or several, if she was planning to survive the next two decades and save the Universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am doing my best to use tony when speaking of og timeline tony and toni when speaking of new timeline toni so fingers crossed that i dont fuvk this up
> 
> explanation: this universe was always meant to exist. The Ancient One knows this and she knows a lot more than she lets on.  
> It's kind of convoluted but all of toni's moral questions of 'should i do this? am i disturbing the universe? what are the repercussions of this actions?' are useless because the actions she takes are the actions she was SUPPOSED to take.  
> she was always meant to arrive in this universe with that foreknowledge, but she doesn't understand that yet. makes sense?  
> [wont be the last time we have toni questioning everything ever existed and having existential crisises]


	4. we are young

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friendships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> toni's 90s gang!  
> ive always wanted a fic in which rhodey, carol, hope and tony (and stephen tbh) were friends, but i never found any. so i guess ill have yo fucking write it myself

**Earth-200207: May 1992**

“I cannot believe you would do this to me, Brucie Bear,” loudly complained Toni, pulling at the man’s arm, dragging her feet and more or less making a huge nuisance of herself.

Bruce did not even blink, pulling her along with him but mostly ignoring her as he looked around the lab.

Which was just _rude._

And she loved every single part of it.

Toni was not going to say anything mean in regard to previous-timeline-Bruce, but knowing _this_ Bruce? It was a breath of fresh air.

It was all the brilliance and salty humour of the previous version, with less of the anxiety and with a healthy dose of arrogance that came from being a genius in the 90s. In other words? She loved him.

“Bruceee,” she complained yet again, and finally the man turned to her, looking severely unimpressed.

“You know, no one actually asked you to come here with me. I was all right with the thought of coming here alone,” he pointed out, which made her pout even more as she finally let go and sat on one of the desks, ignoring the wince from their ‘guide’.

“But then you could have risked not getting to my birthday party on time! And that would have simply been unforgivable.”

“Uh uh,” said Bruce, rolling his eyes and turning to the guide once more. “So this is the physics lab? Do astrophysics students use it too or is that separated?”

The guide quickly stepped closer to Bruce once more, gushing about all the cool little toys that the university had to offer, and why it was the best around and bla bla bla.

Now, this might be her alma-loyalty speaking, but Toni was not impressed with what she had seen so far, and she made sure to let everyone around know. Loudly.

She zoned out as Bruce started questioning her more and more, looking at the pristine white ceiling. She doubted that Bruce would actually choose John Hopkins for his next degree, but this version of him had revealed himself to be surprisingly petty.

Toni’s lips twitched in a small smile as she recalled again how quickly their friendship had come once again. They had just met at that geniuses party at the beginning of the year, and to the surprise of everyone but Toni herself, they had clicked.

Remaining in contact was particularly annoying in the non-digital-exactly-but-close era, but despite that, they had worked it out. And Bruce seemed to be as taken with her as she was with him, another nice difference from the previous timeline, where she had to basically chased after him the whole time they had known each other.

“Toni?” he called and she pushed herself up from the desk. “We are going to get a brochure now, come on, laze-a-lot.” 

The brunette jumped off the desk, rolling her eyes at the man as she skipped to his side, fixing her skirt as she did so. “Seriously? You are _seriously_ considering John Hopkins University?”

Bruce raised an eyebrow at her as they walked. “And what’s wrong with that? It’s a fine school.”

“It’s in _Baltimore_! Baltimore, Bruce!”

He scoffed. “Location means nothing to me.”

“It scored at number 10 in the list of best Universities in the US of A.” The guide scowled at her as non obviously as possible. “That’s less than CalTech, Banner. And we all know that if something is worse than CalTech then it’s bad.”

“‘ _We all_ ’, please. Keep your dislike of Caltech to yourself, little miss MIT. It’s not universal, and CalTech is a pretty neat University-”

“ _Pretty_ _neat_ , don’t even. We all know Caltech is just a dump for MIT rejects, let's keep it cute.”

“I’m starting to want to visit Caltech, what with your ringing endorsement,” said Bruce and chuckled when Toni turned an horrified expression on him.

“Don’t you _ever_ say those words around me again, Doctor Banner! Asking me to die on the spot would hurt less,” she pronounced, putting a hand on her forehead and pretending to swoon from shock.

Bruce straightened her up again, thanking the guide as she handed him a brochure before turning his attention back on Toni. “But anyway, seriously, John Hopkins isn’t that bad. And they have their own resident genius on campus.”

This time the grimace on Toni’s face was not for show. 

Unlike with Bruce Banner, she had not kept up to date with the comings and goings of one future Doctor Wizard. At least not on purpose.

She knew, however, that he had made his debut on the genius list of the _Scientifica_ in the last month, and that he was currently studying at John Hopkins, going through his degree faster than any normal person.

But other than that, she had kept her space from the man.

It was just... with Bruce it was somewhat easy to remember that he was not the same person who had fallen asleep as she tried to spill her guts to him and then disappeared after Sokovia. But with Stephen Strange, it was harder. Even though his unshaven self looked pretty different from his goatee-d self, the two conflated themselves in her head.

Sure, she could try to get to know him so that she ‘learnt’ their differences, but why? He was an arrogant ass, and while opposites attracted, similar people repelled each other. And according to her data he didn’t become sorcerer supreme until 2016, so them knowing each other in the 90s would either mean nothing or lead him to never become a sorcerer (unlikely, but still possible). Which, no thanks.

She abandoned her thoughts of Stephen Strange, and linked their arms together as they headed towards the doors. “If they have their own genius, then they don’t need you. Meanwhile MIT is the perfect place for more than one genius. Me and Rhodey both coexisted, after all.”

He shook his head at that, but he was smiling which counted as a win in her book.

+++

“You know, this isn’t what I expected,” said Bruce a few hours later.

Toni jumped out of the driver seat of the car, locking it behind her. “What do you mean?”

Bruce shrugged, following after her as they headed towards the establishment. “I don’t know, it’s just... you’re Toni Stark. I expected more chaos and underage drinking.”

The girl snorted, keeping an eye on the people around her. It was ironic, really, because she had a pretty definite memory of what her 18th birthday party was like, the first time around.

And Bruce was right, it had been _much_ more chaos and underage drinking.

Her parents were dead, she had moved to California, the Jarvises were gone, Rhodey had dipped after the funeral and she had not contacted him... according to any child psychologist who wanted to get their names on the paper that had been the most exuberant and expensive cry for help they had seen in a while.

She had invited a bunch of people she ‘knew’ from school and SI and then promptly tried to drink herself in an early grave. She was pretty sure there had been a suicide attempt at some point during that party too.

In contrast, while still pretty ‘Tony Stark’ this party was very much subdued. The lounge had countless of colourful balloons and lights strung around, with her name plastered in the front, but the invitation list was much smaller.

In fact-

Toni twisted her body before the figure behind her could lay a finger on her and she grabbed for their arm, trying to immobilize it. The figure barely faltered, using their leg to try and trip Toni and free herself.

“Holy shit!”

It would have worked possibly, had Toni not trained with Natasha Romanoff for several years in the original timeline. As it were, she wrapped both legs around her would be assailant, twisting enough that they both ruined on the floor, this time with the assailant on the ground.

“You win!” said the assailant, not in the slightest embarrassed at having lost and with a huge grin on her face.

“Toni?” questioned Bruce, and right, he was still there. And looking a little freaked out, too.

Toni rolled her eyes and stood back up, pulling the assailant to her feet too. “Seriously, cuz?”

Sharon Carter brushed dust off her jeans, grinning at her. “Constant vigilance, Antoinette.” Then she opened her arms, wrapping them around the brunette and pressing a kiss on her cheek. “But damn, where did you learn all that?”

Toni accepted the hug, and was very glad that portable cameras did not exist yet, considering the crowd their little pow wow had gathered. “Self taught, of course,” she lied, pulling a very confused Bruce along with them. “By the way, Bruce, this is my cousin, Sharon. Sharon, this is my new best bud, Brucie.”

The scientist awkwardly waved at her while Sharon winked. “Nice to meet you, Bruce. This one giving you any trouble?”

“Just the usual amount,” managed Bruce, as they finally walked into the karaoke lounge. “So do you usually uh... leap and attack each other in the street?”

“ _I_ don’t,” immediately said Toni, glaring at Sharon. “Because I am a socialite and a lady. Shay, however, is a brute.”

“Rude!” complained Sharon, but she didn’t rebuff. Instead she shrugged. “I like working on her reflexes, but it doesn’t really work if she’s expecting me to attack.”

“I am always expecting you to attack,” pointed out Toni, and Sharon smirked.

“And that’s the best training you could possibly have!”

“That doesn’t sound healthy,” pointed out Bruce, but he had started to relax now. Which was good. She really liked Sharon Carter, this time around.

“That Shar for you,” simply said Toni, another grin appearing on her face as they arrived in the karaoke corner and found two other people standing there and fiddling with the mikes. “Hey you!”

Rhodey waved a coke in her direction while Hope nodded, smiling back. “Hey yourself. Hey, Share and and hey... Toni’s new friend?”

“Brucie Bear, these are my pals: Rhodey, my best friend from MIT; Poppy, o;ur moms were best friends and our dads hated each other; and Sherry, my sort of kind of cousin. Guys, this is Brucie Bear, my science bro and possibly brain soulmate.” She made jazz hands at them. “Now be friends!”

“Doesn’t work like that, Toni,” huffed Rhodey, offering Bruce his hand like a proper soldier. “Nice to meet you. James Rhodes, but you can call me Rhodey.”

“Bruce Banner, please don’t call me Brucie Bear. I’m trying to get Toni to stop,” he said, earning laughter all around.

“Tell me if you manage. I’ve been trying for like ten years to get her to stop calling me Poppy with various results,” Hope smiled. “I’m Hope Van Dyne.” Then she turned to Toni with a single raised eyebrow. “I have to say, I did not expect something this calm from you.”

“What are you talking about!” huffed Toni, hip checking her as she stole one of the cokes they had settled on the side. “This is me having fun with my friends on my 18th. What else did you expect?”

“Alcohol, for one,” pointed out Rhodey, shrugging. “Bunch of people neither of us actually knew. The police, at some point.”

“First of all, we have two underage girls around here,” said the brunette, winking at Sharon and Hope’s eye rolls. “Second, why would I do that? I did that for my 17th. Third, I have a bag of weed in my bag, how’s that for bad behaviour?”

“Oh thank god, for a second I thought you had turned into a goody two shoes,” said Sharon, quickly snatching the bag from her hands and doublechecking that the door of the karaoke room was properly closed.

It was kind of strange how Toni could go out with friends and not be hounded by paparazzi and reporters. Don’t misunderstand, she was very glad for it, but after the life she had lived as Tony Stark, it was weird.

She felt Rhodey’s gaze on her face as she selected a song on the machine, and ignored it to the best of her abilities. His worry was touching, but completely unnecessary.

Rhodey was probably trying to connect the Toni Stark he had known for the past four years to the Toni Stark he had barely interacted with after Howard’s death. They looked and spoke the same, but she was sure Rhodey could see that the jagged pieces did not quite fit anymore, did not go where they were supposed to.

She trusted Rhodey with her life, but she also loved the man. He was her best friend - would forever be her best friend. And knowing too much not only risked the timeline, but it could also lead him in being a target of someone, and after seeing Rhodey fall to his death, well... she was not interested in risking his life again.

So in the end, Toni was happy to make him think it was simply trauma mixed with ‘being free’ from Howard.

“No,” groaned the airman when Toni finally selected the song, slumping on the chair beside Bruce. “Why are you like this?”

Sharon was already clapping to the rhythm, delighted, while Hope grabbed the other mike, dancing along with her.

"Uh-uh! You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life! Uh-uh, see that girl! Watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen!"

Toni winked at Rhodey who was still mock glaring at her. "Friday night and the lights are low... Looking out for the place to go..."

"Where they play the right music," jumped in Hope, pointing at the karaoke bar around them, "getting in the swing, you come in to look for a king..."

"Anybody could be that guy!" sang Toni, sending Bruce a kiss. "Night is young and the music's... hiiiiigh."

"With a bit of rock music, everything is fine. You're in the mood for a dance..."

Sharon jumped on the stage with them. "And when you get the chaaaance!"

And now all three of them, Toni trying to lead them into the _Mamma_ _Mia_ dance with mixed results. "You are the dancing queen! Young and sweet, only seventeen! Dancing queen! Feel the beat from the tambourine! You can dance! You can jive! Having the time of your life! Uh-uh, see that girl," Bruce and Rhodey pointed at them and joined in the chorus. "Watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen!"

As Sharon stole her mike and joined Hope in destroying the second verse, Toni could only think that she did not remember the last time she had had such free and uncombed happiness. There was no alcohol, and they were singing oldies while high on sugar and weed, in terrible accents and voices, but Toni’s cheeks seriously hurt by how much she was smiling.

They killed ABBA, danced to Queen, Walked on Sunshine and got Hooked on a Feeling and Toni was pretty sure this single birthday had been better than 90% of all of her birthdays ever.

* * *

**Earth-200207: September 1992**

New Orleans was not a place Toni was particularly fond of. Let’s be real, Toni was not that fond of Louisiana in general. It was humid, it was hot and it was boring. Which Rhodey was pretty aware of.

“Why does your family even _have_ a Louisiana place?” wondered Rhodey, sunglasses perched on his nose. “And why did you have to drag me along if all you needed to do was check it before you sold it? We could have been at my ma’s by now, eating cheesesteaks and her casseroles.” A wistful sigh. “Man do I miss Philly.”

Toni rolled her eyes at him, reaction covered by her own sunglasses, bopping her head along to the music even though her head was not at all focused on that. “Relax, honey bunch. The quicker I am done with that, the quicker I can move mom and SI to California.”

Rhodey turned his head around to look at her, a thoughtful expression on his face. “So you really are keen on this whole moving to the opposite side of the State, uh? Not just a passing fancy?”

Toni gave a half shrug. “I like New York, but you know I’ve never loved the Mansion. The second I could get away with, I let mom and Howard get me my own apartment. There are a lot of memories there, sure, but...” she chewed on her lower lip, grimacing slightly when she felt the lipstick stick on her tooth. “Howard is gone, and with him a chapter of my life. It’s very metaphorical - leaving the cold of New York and my father to embrace the warmth of Malibu and my mother.”

Toni had _missed_ her Malibu mansion something fierce. This time around, no bantering with terrorists and watching your house fall into the Ocean.

In the previous timeline, the Mansion had been inspired by Maria Stark’s décor and thoughts on fashion. In this timeline, Maria Stark would help decorating it _herself_. The best of both worlds.

“Tones,” called Rhodey, and she turned at him, forcing herself not to groan at the ‘serious conversation’ tone he had adopted.

“Yes, sugar plum, light of my life, sugarpop-”

“Are you okay?”

Such kindness, such gentleness. 

Toni’s hold on the steering wheel tightened and she hoped he did not see it. 

Because truth was, she was coping, she was planning but she... wasn’t okay.

She was not okay because she had friends who she knew inside out and understood perfectly while they were totally unaware of who she was. Because everyone expected her to be mourning Howard still, but she was already past his death and was busy mourning the loss of her _entire Universe._

Because she had a wife who died and was now alive in some university (Harvard) working on some random degree (business administration) who had absolutely no clue of who she was and who she would become to Toni.

Because she had another best friend who was a washed out boxer out there (in Oregon) who was still trying to make it out there and who Toni did not even know if he died in the snap or was eaten by their collapsing reality.

Because Peter-

“I’m not fine,” she said, not looking at her best friend in the eyes. And could she still call him best friend when she was hiding something this huge from him? Did she have the right?

She was reverse engineering friendships years in the making for her own comfort (and to save the universe, a little). Her friendship with Hope Van Dyne had fizzled out in the previous timeline, after the Stark’s death. Tony Stark would have certainly never invited Hope Van Dyne to his 18th birthday party. Tony Stark and Sharon Carter would have drifted out the second he moved to California. James Rhodes had been pushed away by both Tony and Obadiah, and only his stubbornness had let their friendship remain strong.

So was it right for Toni to do what she knew would make them stay? Not test them in her usual ways, but instead allowing them to comfort her, talk to her, be there for her? Abusing trust and secrets that had been spilled to her years later to keep them happy?

It wasn’t right.

But she would do it anyway. 

Rhodey smiled at her for the confession, just as she knew he would, and Toni blinked rapidly behind the dark shades, keeping herself steady and calm even as he promised he would always be there for her no matter what, and that she could speak to him.

She wanted to shout at him that she knew, because Rhodey was the best and he had proven it for an entire lifetime. 

But she didn’t, instead smiling at him, and nodding in easy acceptance the Tony Stark of old - and even the Toni Stark he knew before Howard’s death - had never been known for.

Then their car sputtered and came to a stop on the road.

+++

The last time Tony had seen Maria Rambeau it was 1994 and it was the ‘anniversary’ of Carol Danvers' disappearance. She hadn’t wanted to go, but Rhodey had wore her down and they had spent a perfectly lovely afternoon with the new mom and her daughter, Monica.

While Toni did not know her as well as Rhodey did, they interacted often enough, especially before Carol disappeared. She wouldn’t have called them friends, but they were more than simple acquaintances. They were on each other’s Christmas lists and sent cards, even though they never met face to face.

This time around, Toni was planning on changing that. 

“Come on then,” she called smiling brightly at them. “I’ll get you guys some lemonade and then we can see what the heck you did to your car.”

“Thank you so much, Captain Rambeau-” started Rhodey, earning a snort from the older woman.

“Please call me Maria, Jim. I haven’t been Captain Rambeau in a while.”

Rhodey smiled back even if he clearly did not agree, and then he settled on the couch.

Toni was still standing in the main hallway, a finger tracing the frame of the pictures of Maria, Monica and Carol. The future Captain Marvel was grinning at the camera in a way Toni hadn’t had time to see in the future past, and Maria was looking at her with pure love in her eyes.

“That’s my Aunt Carol,” said a little voice next to her, and Toni looked down at Monica with a small smile.

“She looks beautiful,” she told her and Monica smiled, pleased. 

“She is. There was an accident and then they couldn’t find Aunt Carol anymore, and mom was really sad.”

Toni put down the frame, not wanting to grip it too tightly and breaking it. 

What right did she have to keep the truth from Maria? She knew for a fact that Carol was alive - and considering how little impact Earth shaenanigans had on the rest of the future, at least for the next couple of years/decades, telling Maria that she was alive would not affect Carol’s return.

But what proof did she have? ‘ _I_ _am from the future of an alternate reality_?’

She’d get put in a house for the mentally impaired before she even tried to speak about aliens and Infinity Stones.

“Do you miss her?” softly asked Toni, turning to face Monica fully.

She wondered if the little girl even remembered Toni. Prior to this, the last time they had seen each other face to face had been Carol’s ‘funeral’.

Monica smiled at her, fully at ease. “Sure. But it’s okay, cause she’s going to come back.”

Toni blinked at her, startled. Had she missed Carol’s return? She was pretty sure the woman had said she returned in 1995, so how-

“I know what everyone thinks,” said Maria, appearing behind her daughter with a tray of lemonade in her hands. Her expression was grim, but decided. “But I truly believe that Carol is out there, somewhere. Her body wasn’t there, and Wendy Lawson looked...” she shook her head. “Did I ever tell you the black box was missing?”

They weren’t really close, so no. Toni shook her head, and looked at her carefully. “You think it’s a cover up.”

Maria jutted out her chin. “Yes.” Daring her to say it was silly. To offer platitudes or something of the sorts.

But Toni needed to be Maria’s friend, so that when Carol came she could get to her and the Tesseract and get the ball rolling. So she simply took the tray from her hands and offered her what she hoped was a bittersweet smile. “I don’t think my father crashed off the road because he was drunk. I was in hospital when it happened and when the police got there, the surveillance tape stopped at the car crash and then was unsalvageable.” She passed a hand on the picture frame, feeling both guilty and not for her words. “I believe you.”

Maria smiled at her, a sheen of tears in her eyes, and Toni returned to the living room where Rhodey was sitting ramrod straight, looking at the TV.

Reverse engineering friendships indeed.

* * *

**Earth-200207: October 1992**

When she ran into him for the third time in about two weeks, Toni decided that the Universe might be trying to tell her something. 

She had gone to Columbia the first time around, but in the end Bruce had managed to somehow convince her to join up with him at NYU. She still wasn’t sure how, maybe she was letting previous Banner’s non reactions colour theirs still, but she had agreed.

Now she wondered if this was one of the staples of the ‘new timeline’ that needed to happen.

“You’re scowling,” informed her Bruce, chewing on his sandwich and splitting his attention between it, the book in his free hand and her. “Why?”

Toni huffed, playing around with her food and sending little glares every now and then. “Nothing.”

“Usually ‘nothing’ doesn’t make people scowl at one of the other geniuses around the University,” informed her Bruce, simply smirking when she sent a sharp look at him instead. “I’m not stupid. Now, tell me what your problem with Strange is.”

Yes. Because she had not been aware of Stephen Strange’s original life story, she hadn’t known that he went to NYU. Nor had she known that he had gone so young. He was older than her - at least in this timeline - so he wasn’t ‘so young’ but he was still younger than most.

And now here he was, stuck in her life. Or adjacent to her life, since they didn’t actually share any classes together.

“I don’t have a problem with Strange,” she told him, which made Bruce give her his best ‘bitch please’ face.

“Then what’s with the glare?”

“Yes, Stark,” came another voice and Toni startled slightly, berating herself for not having seen him move, “What’s with the glare?”

Bruce looked at him, a little wary, but Toni pursed her lips, forcing her face in a mask of politeness. Considering the way Strange’s smirk grew, he saw right through her.

Whatever. “Sometimes some people just rub you the wrong way, I guess.”

Instead of leaving or taking more insult with that, Strange dropped his tray next to Bruce’s and sat down. “I guess. I could see how the woman who designed her first weapon at age 8 and the guy who realised he wanted to save lives at age 8 might not like each other.”

Low blow.

Toni’s hold on her fork tightened ever so slightly, and from the curl of Strange’s lips as he took a bite of his lasagna, he was very much aware. 

It wasn’t even like Toni had willingly chosen to create the gun. She had to, which was something Strange would never truly understand of course.

Instead of giving the satisfaction of answering that dig, she gave him a sickly sweet smile. “Oh, I don’t know, Strange. People say that opposites attract, which probably means that people who are too similar to each other repel, _right_?”

Strange rolled his eyes at her, but she had a front view of the way the muscle in her cheek ticked ever so slightly. “Are you suggesting that me and you are in any way similar to each other?”

Toni shrugged. “Or something. Draw your own conclusions, I am simply offering an hypothesis.”

“I don’t think you have all the necessary data to make such,” pointed out the future Merlin and Toni gave him a dark look at the missed irony.

“You’ll find that I have plenty of data, Strange.”

A raised eyebrow. “Should I feel concerned as to how you have acquired this data?”

“Are you concerned about being so easily read?”

“I am concerned about you making assumptions based on your over inflated sense of self, Stark.”

“ _Nothing_ about me is over inflated, Stranger Danger.”

“This is weird,” loudly said Bruce, looking at both of them with a slight frown. “I don’t know if you’re dissing each other or flirting, at this point.”

Toni turned away from what she wasn’t so sure was an argument anymore and just smiled sunnily at Bruce, stealing his fruit salad. “Love you too, Brucie Bear.”

Strange rolled his eyes again and continued eating.

But he didn’t leave their table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tony & stephen: arguing  
> bruce, in his head: *wedding march*
> 
> oh toni you are a manipulative little bih, but to be fair the fate of the universe DOES rest on her shoulders so...
> 
> i think all the domino pieces are in place now. shall we push them?


	5. aliens and cats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Marvel - now with more drama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> peep the time skips! this chapter starts almost three years later

**Earth-200207: June 1995**

“Stark.”

Ngh.

“Stark.”

_Sleep, please._

“Stark!”

Toni let out a loud groan, one eye opening so that she could more effectively glare at the man sitting on the other side of her bed. 

It did not have the effect desired, considering the other man simply raised an eyebrow at her, cool as a cucumber. “Your phone is ringing.”

Now that she was kind of awake Toni could make out the shrill sound of her ‘highly improved but not suspiciously so’ landline. She groaned even more loudly, not bothering to cover herself up as she reached for the phone. “Stark residence, Toni Stark speaking.”

“Miss Stark,” came JARVIS’ voice. “I believe I received the message you’ve been waiting for.”

Toni straightened up immediately, all sleepy feelings fleeing her mind immediately. “I’m listening.”

“A man just called in about a lady who crashed from the sky through the roof of a Blockbuster, dressed in a strange laser tag suit. The woman had long blonde hair and brown eyes and was of medium-short height,” dutifully listed the AI and Toni sucked in a breath.

This was it. Carol had arrived on Earth and with her the first piece of the domino.

She was not ready.

“Where?”

“Los Angeles, Miss.”

She hadn’t actually made a plan as to how she was going to tackle the entire thing. Her presence alone would invite change, but she wouldn’t be able to know what change because she did not know the entire story, how it went on the first time around.

But setting some sort of communication with Carol before she returned to space was important. She knew from the little she had parsed that Carol interacted with the Tesseract when she had arrived on Earth (though at the time, she hadn’t known it was _Carol_ ). 

This was her chance to possibly gain some intelligence on it or even steal it. Stealing it was a very appealing thought, in fact, but she had heard the Ancient One: the Invasion would happen, one way or another. 

And taking the Tesseract could possibly mean the first portal opening in her own house and Toni did not want that at all.

At the same time, she needed to make a first contact. She had to know what happened, had to be _there_ one way or another.

She had been in this new timeline for three years now, and there had not been any major changes other than her mother being alive. There had been some other changes, but none that was big enough to factor in her ‘Endgame’ preparation dossier (had to say, her business degree was coming very handy).

This was the first time she would be interacting with an Infinity Stone in this timeline, and her gut told her that it was an important thing to partake in.

She wouldn’t be able to explain her presence in LA, though. Even if she did arrive in time, arriving in LA did not mean she’d manage to get herself entangled with Carol and everything that came with her Captain Marvel Origin Story. 

However, there was somewhere Toni _knew_ Carol would end up being. She swatted away the fingers ghosting over her naked back and focused back on the phone. “Get my car and jet ready, I’m going straight to Maria.”

“Of course, Miss.”

She was so proud of JARVIS. She wasn’t sure if he was growing faster than the original had or not, but he was growing at a remarkable rate. He was fully integrated at the Malibu Mansion where her mother had moved two years ago, but less so in the hotel penthouse she resided in during the school year. He could have communicated with her even so, but knowing that she had company he had smartly decided to call instead.

“I’m proud of you, J. I’ll be at the private airstrip soon enough,” she said, and with that she put the phone back down.

“Stark?” called a voice and Toni startled ever so slightly. She had totally forgotten he was still there. “You’re leaving?”

She gave him a shrug, standing up from the bed, still naked. “Yeah, apparently I’m needed somewhere right now. Do you need me to call you a cab, Strange?”

Yes. Strange. Because _that_ was another of the miniscule changes Toni had made to the timeline.

Stephen Strange.

He rolled his eyes at her, running his fingers through his hair. “No thanks. I have a dissertation discussion in a matter of hours. Where is my shirt?”

Toni threw it at him, not bothering with one herself as she grabbed a towel and headed to the bathroom.

Stephen Strange.

Toni would have liked to say that she hadn’t seen it coming but... she sort of had seen it coming. The man was really fucking handsome in an odd sort of way, and there was something just so mesmerizing about his eyes. Couple that with a healthy genius brain, the snark and the arrogance and well: he was simply made to test Toni Stark.

They weren’t friends, though. No matter what Bruce alluded when they spent the entire lunch hour bickering or when he found them making out in a corner of one of the labs, they weren’t friends. 

He was annoying, and Toni wasn’t friends with annoying people. They had been doing this ‘sort-of-frenemies-with-benefits’ thing for two years now, and they still called each other by surname only.

 _You're not friends with annoying people but, apparently, you fuck them_ , said Bruce’s voice in her head and she sighed turning the shower on.

They weren’t friends, but she did not _not_ like him. Again for the aforementioned genius, wit and the pretty package he came in.

And what a package it was, she thought with a slight giggle.

+++

Arriving at Maria’s place was pretty easy, all things considered.

She had officially graduated with more degrees than she knew what she could do with. The only reason she was still in New York was because her ‘official’ birthday party had taken place less than a week before.

She had had a crazy 21st - she was still Toni Stark, after all - but this time Maria Stark had been there to convince her to throw a dinner party with various members of the SI board, since she would be taking the reigns of CEO soon enough.

Hope had been there, along with a huffing and puffing Hank Pym - who knew better than to piss off her mother with any comment about the Starks after the slander lawsuit he had gotten slapped with the last time around - but her mother had cut it at her.

Rhodey couldn’t come because of 'contrasts of interest', Sharon couldn’t come because she was going to be a spy and did not want her picture plastered on the next newspaper, and Bruce wasn’t allowed to come because he was poor.

Oh, her mamma dressed it up pretty nicely, with words like ‘different environment’ and ‘contacts’ but she knew the reason. She would have ignored it and brought him in any way, but Bruce had immediately said he did not want to come either.

She had thought for a second about inviting Strange, but since they weren’t _friends_ it would have been weird (right? right).

Her official CEO appointment would be later in the month, and she was pretty sure she could invite him to that. At the very least just so she could rub her achievements in his face.

Maria - just how many Marias were in her life? - did not even blink in surprise at seeing Toni at her door. She simply grinned, pulling her into a hug. “Hey, girl! Escaping yet again?”

“You know me,” laughed the brunette reciprocating the hold. “Also, you missed my birthday party. So I brought cake!”

“Did I hear cake?” came another voice, and Toni’s smile widened when she saw Monica rushing down the stairs. “Hey, Toni!”

“Hey, Mon! And yes, I got cake!”

The smile on the younger girl’s face actively hurt Toni’s chest.

It had been years since she had started this whole fiasco, but their relationship still felt like manipulation on Toni’s part. True, she had learnt things she did not expect, and she had gotten slightly more attached than she had thought she would, but the foundation of their rekindled friendship was a lie. 

She had not had any initial drive in their relationship than making sure they would be close enough that when Carol appeared, they would share whatever information with her too.

And maybe now it was different. Maybe the times she showed up at the small house in a bad mood and just hung around until she felt better were real. Maybe her affection and presence at Monica‘s various birthdays was real. Maybe the depth of their relationship was real.

But did that make the relationship itself real?

Toni wasn’t sure, and every time she considered it, she felt like an awful human being. And because she was a genius, even when she wasn’t considering it, she was considering it.

It was easier with Bruce and Rhodey because what she wanted of them was simply to be their friend. Easiest with Strange, cause she did not really want anything from him.

But with them...

“How long you staying?” asked Maria, taking the cake box from her hands and batting away her daughter's hands when she tried to reach for it. 

Toni took Monica’s hands in hers twirling her away from the cake. “Couple of days, if it’s not too much trouble.”

She used to stay one day maximum, but as their friendship grew, Maria started insisting that she stayed longer if she wished and to sleep over if she wanted. Toni was pretty sure a couple of her and Rhodey’s jumpers had been left behind during their various sleep overs.

“No trouble at all,” predictably said Maria. “Though I might head out in the hangar later on, I’ve got some stuff to fix up. Wanna join?”

“Are you really asking the greatest engineer of our time if she _wants_ to fix some old stuff?” asked Toni, affecting an air of great arrogance.

“Mom wasn’t asking herself anything,” cheekily told her Monica, which made Maria snort and Toni gasp.

“Betrayal!”

* * *

Carol arrived the next day.

Monica was playing pretend in the airplane, Maria was working at her desk and Toni was fixing up some other plane parts when they heard, “Excuse me, I'm looking for Maria Rambeau.”

And there she was, thought Toni, heart beating hard in her chest but knowing to stay silent. 

Carol looked... not like she had expected her to look. For one, there was no space suit, only a white tee and jeans. Secondly, her expression was a far cry from what she had last seen, as was her stance. 

Granted, it was the end of the world, so she had not been all sunshine and happiness, but she had been far more relaxed than she looked right now meeting her not really girlfriend.

“Aunty Carol?” called Monica, getting out of the plane. “Mom, it's Aunty Carol!” The little girl rushed to a very confused Carol Danvers, wrapping her hands around her stiff form. “I knew it, everybody said you were dead but we knew they were lying.”

She let go when it became clear that the blonde was not hugging her back. Maria finally moved towards her, but Toni remained where she was, not wanting to draw attention to herself.

“I'm not really who you think I am,” finally said Carol, as Maria stopped and just stared at her.

And that’s when Toni noticed Nick Fury.

+++

Toni was having a hard time not staring at Nicholas J. Fury. 

Correction: Toni was having a hard time not staring at Nicholas J. Fury’s eyes. Yes, you heard that right. Eyes. As in two.

The man had two eyes on his face, and Toni was not sure how to process that information.

Fury had become stiff as a board when he had noticed her (“ _Howard had a strict do not engage protocol regarding you,_ ” told her the voice of a Nick Fury long gone) but he had not outright recognised her or asked her what she was doing there. Yet.

Instead he had let Carol take the lead, though his eyes did widen considerably the more ‘classified’ information she willingly shared with Maria, Monica and her.

“That is the craziest shit I have ever heard,” finally said Maria, shaking her head in slight shock.

Monica also scoffed, amused. “Green-transforming aliens? There's no such thing.”

Which meh. In the grand scheme of things shape shifting aliens were only a problem in the 90s, so Tony would retain the information and then proceed not to worry about it.

Fury nodded, eyes darting between Carol and Monica. “You're absolutely right, young lady. There is no such thing. 'Cause if there were, we would want to keep that to ourselves.”

Carol looked amused. “You don't believe me.” She stood up and moved towards the stove, putting a hand on the kettle sitting innocently. Her hands glowed a faint blue orange making the water boil and kettle whistle.

“No way. That's so cool!” called Monica, rushing to inspect what she was doing more thoroughly.

Fury smiled - _error_ : _unable to compute_. “Oh, ho. She can do a lot more than just make tea with those hands.”

“They are like mini photon blasts,” she marvelled, trying to push the image of Fury smiling _indulgently_ away from her mind.

Monica’s eyes widened. “Photon blasts? Oh, I wanna see! Show us.”

Carol looked between Toni and Monica before shaking her head slightly, the tenseness returning to her shoulders. “Maybe later.”

“I kept all your stuff,” informed her the younger girl, now almost bouncing in excitement. “I'll go get it.”

Maria made eye contact with her, and Toni was immediately following the younger girl in the corridor. “Oh, I’ll come keep you company.”

She only followed Monica to her bedroom, without entering and within a few seconds, Fury was standing beside her in all of his two eyed glory.

“Miss Stark,” he said, with a thin smile. “I have to say, it is a surprise to find you in Louisiana of all places.”

“What can I say, Nick,” she said, and how had she missed his familiar pinched expression. Just like coming home. “I like travelling.”

“Mh. How do you know Captain Rambeau?”

Toni just smirked. “Why? Is this an interrogation? You did introduce yourself as an agent of SHIELD. What _is_ SHIELD, mister agent?”

He smiled back. “That’s classified, and this is hardly an interrogation. Please answer the question.”

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. “A friend of mine had a big crush on Carol from one of his military shindigs. He tried to ask her out and we found out that she was sort of but not really dating Captain Rambeau. We became friends after, and remained so even when Carol disappeared.” A raised eyebrow. “Apparently in space.”

Fury sighed, rubbing his hands over his forehead. “I trust you’ll be able to keep this information to yourself. I don’t believe the world is ready for aliens or a former AirForce Captain having hands that shoot energy blasts.”

The world would become acquainted with aliens, but Toni was _not_ going to be the one introducing them. “I don’t want to be put in a mental facility mere days before my official appointment as CEO, Nicky.”

She got another exasperated look at that. “It’s _Fury_.”

“What does your mom call you?”

“Fury.”

“What do you call her?”

“Fury,” he said and then shook his head. “Dear god, there is two of them.” When she just smiled and kept looking at him, he glared. “Now what?”

Toni’s smile widened. “Has anyone told you you have beautiful eyes?”

The man just looked at her in confusion as Monica shuffled past them with a box in her hands, and they followed back into the living room.

“Come look!”

Toni took a chance to just watch Carol as she studied the contents of the box Monica had brought her. She looked so very lost and confused and so much smaller than the last time Toni had seen her both in this timeline and the other. Maria looked half in tears at this point. She had never asked Carol if she had gained her memories back after whatever happened, and now she wished that she had, because the look in her eyes was unbearably sad.

She must have blanked for a second, because a sudden knocking on the door startled her back to attention.

“Don't answer that,” both she and Carol said, as Maria moved towards the door.

Fury looked at her speculatively, but Maria gave them a confused look. “It's just my neighbour.”

Carol shook her head. “They can change into anyone.”

Fury and her moved towards the door, and again Toni wished she had the technology and lab space to create her wrist gauntlets again. Instead she had to rely to her hand to hand skills and hide behind the other two. 

Carol opened the door to a middle aged man, who immediately faltered at the look on her face. “Hi there.”

“What do you want?”

“Ummm...” was all he said, and Toni wished she could see Carol’s face.

Maria came to stand beside her before she could actually attack him. “Hey Tom. This is my friend Carol.”

“Pleased to meet you,” said ‘Tom’ shaking her hand. “Yowzer! Static electricity out here's no joke. I noted that peculiar bird you got parked by the road, and I was just wondering if you'd mind if I bring the boys over to get a closer looksie?”

People in Louisiana in the nineties talked _weird._ Carol seemed to agree, staring at the man intensely. “A closer looksie?”

Tom smiled dumbly. “Yeah.”

“To see the bird parked out by the road. You're really working overtime to sell this one, aren't you... Talos?” she said and wow that was intense.

A sudden shift behind her made her startle as Maria started to say bye to the other man and Toni came face to face with a very odd looking alien. 

He smiled and waved at her, holding a soda cup in his (their?) hand.

“Uh... guys?” she called.

All of them turned and she felt Fury aiming his gun at the man as she took one deliberate step away from.

The alien smiled. “You know, you really should be kinder to your neighbours. You never know when you're gonna need to borrow some sugar.”

Toni blinked. “There is saying random things in threatening manner and there is _failing_ at saying random things in a threatening manner. You sort of fall into the second, dude. No offense.”

The alien looked offended and then noticed something behind her that made him straighten up slightly. “Now, hang on a second, before you go swinging those jazz hands around, making a mess in your friend's house - and... it's a lovely home.”

Toni wondered idly if she should act more scared of this alien or not. As far as anyone knew, this was her first time meeting one and-

“Oh my God,” said Maria. She was looking at something out of the window that Toni couldn’t see. “What the hell?!”

“No one's gonna hurt the girl,” said the alien and okay, now Toni was taking things seriously. She very deliberately took a knife from the table as Carol’s fists burned at her sides and Fury cocked his gun. He did not even have the decency to look afraid (or maybe he did? she did not know alien mannerism that well, after all). “Just, don't kill me. That would really complicate the situation.”

Fury moved until Toni was mostly covered behind him. “I'm about five seconds from complicating that wall with some ugly-ass Skrull brains.”

Oh she _liked_ this 90s Nick Fury. 

The alien gave a slight grimace. “Look, I'm sorry I simmed your boss. But now I stand before you as my true self. Without deception.”

“And who is that, out there?” demanded Carol.

“Okay, that's a fair point. But I'm sure that you understand, I had to take some precautions. I saw you crush 20 of my best men with your hands bound. I just wanna talk.”

“Last time we talked, I ended up hanging from my ankles.”

“That was before I knew who you were.”

“The chosen one?” couldn’t help but quip Toni, earning glares all around. She pouted, and the alien continued. 

“Before I found what made you different from the others. I have an audio recording from Pegasus, of your voice, from a plane crash six years ago. On a device I believe you call a 'black box'.”

Maria looked surprised. “They told me it was destroyed in the crash. How'd you get it?”

The alien looked irritated. “Does she not understand? Young lady I have a special skill that kinda allows me to get into places I'm not supposed to be.”

“Call me young lady again, and I'm gonna put my foot in a place it's not supposed to be,” said Maria, now openly glaring.

“Am I supposed to guess where that is?”

“Your ass!” chorused Toni, Fury, Carol and Maria.

“Okay, I get it. We're all a little on edge here. But look, I just need your help decoding some coordinates. If you sit down, you listen to this, I assure you, it'll be worth your while.”

Carol pursed her lips in thought for a second. “Call your buddy back inside and I'll listen.”

The alien finally seemed to relax. “Deal.”

Before he could do that, a tabby orange cat pressed itself against the alien’s legs and made him jump backwards in surprise. And when he realised _what_ he had touched, the surprise turned into near horror. “Oh my God! Get that thing away! How'd that get in here?”

Carol picked up the adorable looking cat and held it out towards the alien, who immediately scrambled backwards. “The cat? This isn't what you're afraid of, is it?”

If he could hiss the alien would have. “That's not a cat. That's a Flerken!”

Fury laughed (HOLY SHIT. NICK FURY COULD LAUGH) “A Flerken?”

Carol just seemed immensely amused, and Toni just couldn’t stop staring.

Nick Fury could laugh.

Who would have thought? The nineties sure were wild.

* * *

Toni stood closer to the door as they listened to the contents of the black box, but the way Maria’s eyes filled with tears really made her want to skip the entire thing and retreat outside with Monica.

But she had to know as much as she could. From what she recalled Carol had said that she had thought she was Kree and that the Kree were the bad guys, but in so far, she had been working for them. So she had to listen carefully and find out what had made her go from friends to enemy.

Also, she was pretty sure that whatever war was between them, if Thanos reared his ugly head again, they would fight to save the Universe, considering they were some of the idiots _living_ in said Universe.

The energy core they kept talking about... it was clearly the Tesseract. Light speed engine and space stone went hand in hand, after all didn’t they? 

But how had this Lawson or Mar Vell stolen the Tesseract from Howard and SHIELD? She doubted that Aunt Peggy would have given it to her. So how?

She stopped her thoughts when Carol suddenly walked outside, the very picture of an identity crisis. “He lied to me,” she said, fists glowing as everyone else joined her outside. “Everything that I knew was a lie.”

“Now you understand,” said Talos.

Carol rounded on him. “What? What do I understand now?!”

The alien did not allow himself to be intimidated. “Yon-Rogg killed Mar-Vell. He killed her. Because she found out that she was on the wrong side of an unjust war!”

The blonde shook her head. “No. Your people are terrorists... that kill innocents. I saw the ruins on Torfa!”

“Ruins that the Accusers are responsible for! My people lived as refugees on Torfa. Homeless, ever since we resisted Kree rule and they destroyed our planet. Now the handful of us that are left, will be slaughtered next... unless you will help me finish what Mar-Vell started. The coordinates you found, would've powered a lightspeed ship capable of carrying us to safety. A new home, where the Kree can't reach us.”

“Lawson always told us that her work at Pegasus wasn't to fight wars, but to end them,” said Maria, and hold on. Pegasus? That’s when Pegasus started?!

Talos nodded. “She wanted you to help us find the core.”

Which meant-

“Well, I already destroyed it,” said Carol and Toni shook her head.

“No. She wouldn’t put a core of that capability in one single engine, not when she knew the Kree were gunning for her.” Fury and Talos were looking at her in surprise and she rolled her eyes. “Am I wrong?”

Talos gave her a little smile. “No, you’re right. Vers destroyed the engine. The core that powered it is in a remote location. If you help us decode those coordinates, we can find it.”

And with it, Lawson’s original notes on the Tesseract, as well as those of Howard that SHIELD hid from her.

Because if she could create an element capable of stopping an Infinity Stone based on one of Howard’s studies... what could she do if she had more?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have to point out because ive received a lot of digs-  
> toni has a huge ass guilt complex because of all the things she knows that others dont know she knows. its because rn toni has to make the decisions and she cant share the information of the future she has with anyone else because she doesnt want them in danger  
> to her, thats very similar to stane's "put the power back in the rightful hands: ours" and steve's "the safest hands are our own" thats why she feels so terrible [though this is a completely different situation]  
> {her guilt wont fully disappear, but it will become more easily handled as the years go by}  
> and the whole "omg i feel so guilty im manipulating them into being my friends" is not a real thing. again toni is being too harsh on herself - after all even if she WAS manipulating their situations, its not like she can rob them of their free will. they are making the choice for themselves. Maria could have decided she did not want to be friends with toni. She could have told her to stop coming. but she didn't, cause she liked toni
> 
> in case it wasnt clear, i love carol and i wish we had more tony&carol friendship in the movie


End file.
